The Irish ecclesiastical record

THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

& fflontijlu Journal, unto Episcopal Sanction

VOLUME I.
JANUARY TO JUNE, 1897

Jourtl)

DUBLIN
BROWNE & NOLAN, LIMITED, NASSAU-STREET

1897
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Nihil Obstat.

GlKALDUS MOLLOY, S.T.D.,

CENSOR DBF.

^imprimatur.

>& GULIELMUS,

Archiep. Dublin., Hiberniae Primas.

BROWKK & KOLAS, LTD., NASSAU-STBEBT, DtTBLIN.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Alleluiatic Hymn of St. Cummain Fota, The. By Rev. T. J.

O'Mahony, D.D. - 441

American Republic, The Catholic Church and the. By Rev P. Griffy.- 58

Anglicanism as it is. By Rev. Luke Rivington, M.A. - - 49, 206, 510

Archbishop Ussher. By Rev. N. Murphy, P.P. - - 145

Bishop Doyle and his Biographers. By Rev. "W. B. Morris - 289
Bull ' Apostolicae Curae : ' Reply of the Anglican Archbishops. By Rev.

J. Crowe - - 412

Catholic Church and the American Republic, The. By Rev. P. Griffy 58

Church Music, A List of. By Rev. H. Bewerunge - - 433

Correspondence :—

Catechism, On a Lesson in the Maynooth. - 86

Catechism, The^National - - 369

Catechism, The*New 266, 367

Maynooth College, Sum required to found a Burse in - .- 558

Documents :—

Apostolic Constitution on the Prohibition and Censure of Books - 271

Blessed Virgin Mary, Little Office of the - 560

Commemoration of the Titular of a Church - - 560
Decree regarding the Canonization of the Venerable John

Nepomucene Neumann - 463
Gyor, The Miraculous Picture of : Letter from Dr. Zalka, Bishop

of Jaurin to Dr. Healy, Bishop of Clonfert - 178, 182

Reply of the Bishop of Clonfert - 179
Holy Family, Decree granting Office and Mass to the Diocese of

Cork 90

Holy Family, Commemoration of, when Titular 560
Holy Infancy of Jesus, Office, Mass, and Commemoration of,

when Titular 563

Holy Thursday, An Altar of Repose- - 562
Quarant 'Ore, Decree granting Special Privileges to the Diocese of

Kildare and Leighlin - 90

The Bicentenary Celebration at Gyor - 462
Vespers in Concurrence of Votive Office of Immaculate Conception

with a Dominical Office - 561

William III., The 9th Act of - - - - 371

vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Doyle, Bishop, and his Biographers. By Rev. W. B. Morris - - 289

Doyle, James, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, By Rev. W. B. Morris 21

Duty, The Philosophy of. By Rev. P. T. Burke, O.D.C. - 232

Evolution, Sir Robert S. Ball on. By Rev. E. Gaynor, c.M. 243

Gowan, C.M., The late Rev. John. By Rev. Francis MacEnemy - 216
Gyor, Our Lady of, and Bishop Walter Lynch. By Rev. James J.

Ryan 193
Imitation of Christ ' :; ' The, Who was the Author of By Sir Francis R.

Cruise, M.D. 39, 131, 223, 323, 424, 520

Index in Ireland, The. By Rev. W. M'Donald, D.D. 1 10
Ireland, Recent Protestant Historians of. By Very Rev. Canon

Murphy, D.D., V.F. - 385
Irish Diocese, An, in the Seventeenth Century. By Most Rev. Dr.

Sheehan, Bishop of Waterford 1

Irish Exiles in Brittany. By Rev. A. Walsh, O.S.A. - 311
Irish Immigration to the United States. By His Eminence Cardinal

Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, U.S.A. - 97

Modern Eucharistic Hymn, A. By Rev. Matthew Russell, s.J. - 499

Modern Scientific Materialism. By Rev. E. Gaynor, C.K. 337, -535

Monastic Life, The Rise of. By 'AXrjd^y. 304

Music, A List of Church. By Rev. H. Bewerunge 433

flotcs an& Queries :—

LITURGY : —

Canons, Dress to be worn by 263

Corporals, Washing of 82

Holy Saturday, The Ceremonies of - - 360

Holy Week, The Functions of 363

Indulgences, The 'Crosier,' attached to Beads - 173

Indulgences, Beads having Dominican 555

Leaflet, A Blasphemous - 458

Mass, What is meant by a Privuif 363

Mass, Votive of the Sacred Heart, on the First Friday of the Month 82
Mass, Commemoration in Votive, of Sacred Heart said on First

Friday - ... 84
Nuptial Blessing when imparted to more than one couple at the

same time .... . 554

Nuptial Ceremony, Priests' Vestments at - - 17Q,

Phrase, Erccptis Ions ttbi ad su»t Regtilares, Meaning of the - - «>o3
Purificators, Washing of- - - - - -82

Religious Orders, The Exclusive Privileges of certain - 553

Scapular, The Blue - - . - -354

Solemn Mass, Should the Bell be rung during - - - .V>.>

Suffragia, Titular of a Church to be commemorated on - - 265

Vows, Renewal of Religious - - - - - 85

THEOLOGY : —

Collation, The, on Fasting Days - .... 455

Confession, Historical Narration of Sins and Integrity of - - 550
Duplication, No obligation on Priest visiting a place to say Parochial

Mass to prevent duplication - - 550

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

NOTES AND QUEIUES (THEOLOGY) — continued.

Faculties to dispense in Affinity, Interpretation of - - 168

Impediment, Matrimonial, of fear - - 74

Impediment, Is fear an, of the Natural Law 74

Impediment of Disparitaa Ciiliitu, and doubtful Baptism - 353

Impediments, Civil Diriment 74

Impediments, Cumulative, A Bishop's Power to dispense- in - 171

Marriage, Clandestine . 261

Marriage, A Mixed, Absolution of a person about to contract - 457
Mass, Obligation of hearing, ou Week-Days, by those who cannot

on Sundays - - 349

Mass, Application of a Requiem, jvhcn no honorarium has been

received

Races, Point-to-Point
Reservation, is it retrospective

INotices of JBoofcs :— •

Ambassador of Christ, The, 376 ; American Catholic Novelists,
a Round Table of the Representative, 475 ; Ancient Irish Church,
The, as a witness to Catholic Doctrine, 380 ; Blessed Sacrament,
The, Our God, 576 ; Book of Common Prayer, 479 ; Cantioiies
Ecclesiasticae, 94 ; Carolina Sacra S. Alphonsi Mariae de Liguorio,
469; Catholic Church Music, 95; Catholic Directory, The,
Ecclesiastical Register and Almanac for 1897, 190 ; Doctoris Ecstatic!
D. Dionysii Cartusiani Opera Ornnia, 572 ; Ethelred Preston, 474 ;
Favourite Devotions, Our, 4.77 ; From Hell to Heaven, 471 ; Gospel
of St. John, The. 564 ; Grania Waile, 282 ; Holy Bible, The, con-
taining the Old and New Testaments, 479 ; How to make 'the
Mission, 477 ; Ignatii de Loyola Meditationes, 189 ; Imitation of the
Most Blessed Virgin Mary, 473 ; Institutiones Theologicae de Sacra-
mentis Ecclesiae, 573 ; Irish Catholic, The, Directory and Almanac
for 1897, 190 ; Irish Rosary, The, 478 ; Irish Local Legends, 473 ;
Libri Liturgiei Bibliothecae Apostolieae Vaticanae Manu Script! ,
573 ; Life and Death of James, Earl of Derwentwater, The, 480 ;
Martyrs, Our, 92; Missa Angelica in honorcm Ss. Angelorum,472;
Missa in Houorem S. Wilfridi, 192 ; Missa in honorem St. Caeciliae,
477 ; Missa in lion. S. Rosae Virg. Limauae, 474 ; Missa Sexta
Decima, 95 ; Missa Solemnis in Hon. Smi Cordis Jesu, 287 ; Mirli's
Ring and the Mysterious Shrieks, 288; Mostly Boys, 474;
Necessities of the Age, The, 472 ; New Testament of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, The, 477 ; New Faces and Old, 192 ; 'Our
Father ' and the 'Hail Mary,' Explanation of the, 473; Pastoral
Theology, 570 ; Popular Instructions to Parents on the Bringing up
of Children, 477 ; Repertorium of Church Music, 95 ; St. Liguori on
Prayer, 473 ; St. Patrick : His Life, his Heroic Virtues, his Labours,
and the Fruits of his Labours, 478 ; Sermons and Lectures, 383 ;
Short Lives of the Saints for every day in the year, 575 ; Spiritual
Exercises for an Eight Days Retreat, 191 ; Temperance Catechism
and Total Abstinence Manual, 472 ; Three Daughters of the United
Kingdom, 28S ; Thanes of Kent, The, 476 ; Theologia Fimdamentalis,

viii TABLE OF CONTENTS

NOTICES OF BOOKS — contlniteil .

573 ; Tractatus De Jure ut Justitia et De Contractibu*, 470 ;

Tractatus de Yirtutibus in Geuere, de Virtutibus Theologicis, et

de Virtutibus Cardinalibu«s, 470 ; Value of Life, The, 479 ;

"Wonderful Flower of Woxindon, 96.

O'Connell, Daniel. By Rev. John Curry, P.P. 481

Organ for Small Churches, A New Style of. By Rev. H. Bewerunge - 161
Our Lady of G-yor, and Bishop Walter Lynch. By Rev. James J.

Ryan 193

Philosophy of Duty. The. By Rev. P. T. Burke, O.D.C. 232

Recent Protestant Historians of Ireland. By Very Rev. Canon

Murphy, D.D., V.F. - 385

Rise of Monastic Life, The. By 'A\r)0f)s 304

Sermon or Homily. By Very Rev. Jerome O'Connell, O.D.C. - - 448

Sir Robert S. Ball on Evolution. By Rev. E. Gaynor, c.JC. - 243

St. Cummain Fota, The Alleluiatic Hymn of. By Rev. T. J.

O'Mahony, D.D. - 441

United States, Irish Immigration to the. By His Eminence Cardinal

Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, U.S.A. - 97

Ussher, Archbishop. By Rev. N. Murphy, p.p. - 145

Who was the Author of "The Imitation of Christ ''F By Sir Francis

K. Cruise, JC.D. 39, 133, 223, 323, 424, 520

J\/SX - "• VS^ts^^SZ-S^SsKP^3^

f HE IRIS
^pSIASTICAL

A- fflont^Jtmrnal'ttntier Episcopal Sanction

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY1

HAVE taken as the subject of the lecture of this
evening, 'An Irish Diocese in the Seventeenth
Century.' I have made this choice, not merely
because I hope that such information as I have
been able to collect in spare moments of leisure may prove
not altogether uninteresting to you, but also, and much
more, because I think it eminently desirable that the
attention of the students of this great College should be
directed to the ecclesiastical history of Ireland, on every
available occasion. Further, there is, to my mind, a
special reason why this should be done at the present
time. We are now in the swing of a great movement,
extending far beyond our own country, even beyond our
sea-divided race, for the revival of our Irish language
and literature. Nor, unless I am greatly mistaken, is
this movement the outcome of any mere passing enthu-
siasm. The study of Irish history will, naturally, come
within the range of that movement. Indeed, there are
already signs that, in the not distant future, much may be
done towards the completion of that unfinished work — a
creditable History of Ireland. It were not fitting that we

1 A lecture delivered in the MacMahon Hall, Maynooth College, on
December 3, 1896.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.— JANUARY, 1897. A

2 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

should lag behind in that department which is peculiarly
ours. For, if we share, as we must, with our fellow-
countrymen a deep interest in the lives and labours and
sacrifices of those who, in the past, strove to roll back
the tide of foreign conquest, or build up the edifice of
the nation's prosperity at home, we must own to another
interest higher and holier than any which even patriotism
may inspire. I refer, of course, to the interest which
we, beyond others, must take in the lives and labours
and sacrifices of those — the confessors and martyrs and
virgins, the bishops and priests — who made the name
of Ireland illustrious at home and abroad, in the ages
of faith; the millions of faithful people who, from
the beginning, found it good to stand by their Master's
side in the hour of His and their own triumph, nor
abandoned Him when, persecuted and cast out, He
set upon their heads, for a time, His own crown of
thorns.

The Irish diocese in the seventeenth century of which
I am to speak to you, is the diocese of Waterford and
Lismore. Waterford City had been faithful to the English
connection, in peace and in war, ever since the memorable
August day of 1170, when Richard Strongbow and Raymond
le Gros won it for their royal master. Long prior to the
time of which I am about to speak this evening, it had
been entrusted by Parliament with authority to levy war
upon the degenerate English, as well as upon the natives
who lived in its neighbourhood. Indeed, to use Prendergast's
words in the Cromwellian Settlement, it appears to have
been regarded as ' a kind of English oasis in a desert
of Irish.' It had received, in return for its loyally,
the name of Urbs Intacta, and many more substantial
advantages. It preserved its unsullied reputation all
through the sixteenth century ; and we have, at this
moment, in our Town Hall, a cap of maintenance which
Henry VIII. sent, in 1536, to the mayor of the year, and
another gift of the same merry monarch, a state-sword,
lying in amity with the sword carried by Thomas Francis
Meagher before the Irish Brigade in the terrible slaughter

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 3

of Fredericksburg. We have, further, two charters given to
us by Elizabeth.

But, for all their loyalty and all their gratitude, the
people of Waterford never took kindly to the ' Keformed '
doctrines. Indeed, their devotion to popery was, we know,
a source of deep grief, and, no doubt, of disappointment
also, to the God-fearing governors of the country, in such
moments as these worthy gentlemen were able to devote
to the subject, from the work of robbing and slaughtering
the wild Irish. The Lord President, in 1577, talks bitterly
of what he calls 'the proud and undutiful inhabiters' of
this town. ' They are cankered in popery,' he feelingly
complains, ' undutiful to her Majesty, slandering the Gospel
publicly. They fear neither God nor man,' he says ; and,
by way of proof of their unredeemed wickedness, he
adds, ' They have altars, painted images, and candle-
sticks, in derision of the Gospel every day in their
synagogues ;' and what was a great deal worse, ' Masses
infinite they have in their several churches every morning
without any fear.' He spied them himself, he tells the
Government, ' for I chanced to arrive last Sunday, at five
of the clock in the morning, and saw them resort out of
their churches by heaps.' He finally unburdens his soul
by moralizing : ' This is shameful in a Eeformed City.' The
worthy President's indignation was, however, as it would
appear, thrown away upon the Waterfordians ; for twenty
years after, in 1596, we have the Protestant Bishop of Cork,
William Lyon, ' that prelate of an active and liberal spirit,'
as Cotton calls him, writing to the Lord Chamberlain: —

The Mayor of Waterford, which is a great lawyer, one
Wadding, carrieth the sword and rod (as I think he should do)
for her Majesty, but he nor his Sheriffs never came to the Church
sithence he was Mayor, nor sithence this reign, nor none of the
citizens, men nor women, cor in any other town or city through-
out this province, which is lamentable to hear, but most lament-
able to see. The Lord in His mercy [so prays the good Bishop]
amend it, when it shall please His gracious goodness to look on
them.

But the Bishop's prayers were as unavailing as the
Lord President's indignation, and the last days of the

4 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

sixteenth century are amongst those reckoned glorious for
ever to Ireland by the heroism of the men who died at the
scaffold for their faith.

The seventeenth century opened auspiciously for the
oppressed Catholics of the south of Ireland. In 1603 two
events occurred which appeared to promise a profound
change in their condition. Elizabeth, their arch-enemy —
she who had murdered their bishops and priests, who had
plundered their chiefs, and reduced the people of Munster
to such a condition that, in the poet Spencer's appalling
language, ' they ate the dead carrion, and one another, soon
after ; and the very carcases they spared not to scrape out of
the graves' — she was dead. In her place reigned the son
of the martyred Queen of Scots, the lineal descendant of
their own Milesian chiefs : he who had helped them in their
fight with Elizabeth, and had sought and obtained the favour
of the Sovereign Pontiff to secure the English throne, on
this condition, as we learn from no less an authority than
Cardinal Bellarmine, that he would not persecute the
Catholics.

The hopes of the Catholics rose high, nowhere more than
in Waterford. What took place there on the occasion is
described in a long report, full of interest from beginning to
end, written by James White, Vicar- Apostolic of Waterford,
to Clement VIII., and published by Dr. Kelly at the end
of the third volume of his edition of Cambrensis Eversus.
The people, Father White tells us, determined to profess
their faith openly and boldly in the face of the world, and
they prayed him, as the Vicar of the Apostolic See, to con-
secrate for them their churches, which had been desecrated
by heretical worship. He, on his part, whilst complying v, ith
their wishes, cautioned them against tumult or disorder,
and strictly prohibited them from carrying arms, or injuring,
insulting, or assailing in any way those who professed a
different faith. He then purified the Church of St. Patrick,
and the Cathedral at Waterford, as well as the churches of
Clomnel. Tha people protested that, in all this, their
principal object was to intimate to their new sovereign that
they were nothing, and wished to be nothing, but members

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 5

of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. They affixed a
declaration to this effect to the doors of the Cathedral, and
sent a sealed copy to Mountjoy, the Lord President. The
reply was an order directing that the churches be closed,
that all religious rites be suspended, and the priests arrested
and imprisoned on a charge of high treason. The magis-
trates and prefects boldly answered that the priests had
done nothing unworthy of their office, or warranting any
suspicion of their allegiance; and they added that, as to
suppressing Catholic worship, and arresting and imprisoning
the priests, that they could not do, because the faith and
religion of the priests were theirs also. Their efforts were
successful, but only for a time.

The Catholics of Ireland had been robbed of much of
their strength by persecution. The Puritans, on the other
hand, were growing into power, and James, like all the
Stuarts, to use Plowden's words, ' ever forward in sacri-
ficing his friend to the fear of his enemy,' in little more
than two years. from his accession, entered on the work of
persecuting the Church for which his mother had suffered
and died. He began by formally promulgating Elizabeth's
Act of Uniformity, which declared all religious worship
except the Protestant, illegal, and imposed fines on all
who absented themselves from Protestant services. He
commanded ' all priests, Jesuit priests, seminary priests,
or others ordained by authority from Eome, to leave the
kingdom.' Magistrates and other prominent men in Dublin
were thrown into prison for not attending Protestant service:
and when the Catholics of the Pale protested against the
flagrant illegality of such a course, their leaders were locked
up in Dublin Castle, and their principal agent, Sir Patrick
Barnwall, was carried over to London and flung into the
Tower.

James approved of all this. It was not only just, but
necessary, he thinks. He is in hopes, too, he writes to the
Lord-Deputy and Council of Ireland, that ' many more
will be, by this means, brought to conformity who, perhaps,
hereafter will find cause to give thanks to God and you for
being drawn by so gentle [!] a constraint unto their own

6 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

good.' The law against clergy was not allowed to remain a
dead letter. By May, of 1607, there were already in prison a
bishop, a vicar-general, very many priests, and an immense
number of the laity of every class and condition. The
result of all was to destroy churches, monasteries, and
schools, but to root the faith more deeply and firmly in the
hearts of the people.

When FatherJVTooney, the Provincial of the Franciscans,
visited Clonmel,in 1615, he found the buildings of the convent,
with the exception of the cloister, entirely dilapidated ; yet
Sir John Davys tells us that, when the Lord President
visited the 'same town, a short time before, ' though he did
gently offer to the principal inhabitants that he would spare to
proceed against them then, if they would yield to conference
for a time, and become bound in the meantime not to receive
any Jesuit or priest into their house, they peremptorily
refused.' Father Mooney was in Waterford the same year
(1615). The Franciscans were then living clandestinely in a
house which they had rented ; but the Catholics, lie says,
' were true to them, and sustained them generously, even at
their own peril.' Those same sturdy Catholics of Waterford
refused to bring up their children in ignorance, even though
the law said, ' No Papist shall dare to exercise the office of
schoolmaster in the kingdom.' They employed a school-
master, and a public schoolmaster, too : —

There is [reported a body of King's Visitors, in 1615] in the
Citty of Waterford, kept by the citizens a publique schoolmaster in
the Citty of Waterford, fflahy, who hath a great number of schollers
resorting to his schoole. Upon our coming to Waterford we first
sent for him, but could not get him to appear before us. We then
required the Mayor and Sheriffs of the Citty to bring him before
us wch they answered they could not doe, by reason the caid
fflahy did fly out of the Citty a little before our coming. Where-
upon we left a Lre- [Letter] with the Lord President of that
province under or [our] hands, praying and requiring him, in his
Matle8- [Majesty's] name to take order to suppresse him from the
exercise of teaching and instruccion of youth, for he traynes up
schollers to become seminaries [seminarists] beyond the seas
and ill affected members, wch the Ld President did undertake
to perform.

But neither laws nor King's Visitors, nor Lord Presidents

could weaken the attachment of the citizens to their faith ;
and accordingly, in 1617, a decisive step was taken, and the
City was deprived of its charters, liberties, rent rolls, ensigns
of authority, and public revenues. The laws against the clergy
proved just as unavailing. The Earl of Thomond wrote in
1607 :—

The most of the d h priests and seminaries are relieved in

the county of Tipperary, in Waterford, Clonmel, Cashel, and some
few in Cork and Limerick. It is impossible for any officer to lay
hands upon them, for the officers are no sooner known to come
into the county but the priests are presently conveyed away.

Philip 0' Sullivan Beare wrote his Histories Catholicce
Hibernice, Compendium, in 1618. He says of the Irish clergy
of the period : — -

Numerus clericorum magnus est atque florens. Omnes
Ecclesiastici quot sint, mini quidem non constat ; imo ne
Anglis quidem diligentissimis Sacerdotum indagatoribus. Illud
non ignore, mille centum et sexaginta Sacerdotum, Eeligiosorum,
et Clericorum- nomina, cognomina, ab Anglis inquirendo comperta
fuisse.

Few who are acquainted with the contemporary history
of Ireland would, I think, be prepared for such a condition
of things. The number of ecclesiastics of all grades to-day
must be well under five thousand; but the Catholic population
is at least three times as great now as it was in 1618. We
thus come to find — and the discovery is to me a surprising
one — that, after seventy-five years of fierce persecution
carried on by a mighty empire, this Ireland of ours could, in
proportion to its population, count for its sanctuaries three
clerics for every four serving there at the present hour.

The accession of Charles II. made little change in the
condition of the unfortunate Catholics of Ireland. Charles^
it is said, was personally opposed to religious persecution ;
but he was driven forward on the path of his predecessors by
forces which he was unable to control.

The Protestants and Puritans had combined against the
Church. It was in vain that the Catholics loudly protested
their loyalty, and proved the sincerity of their protest by large
pecuniary sacrifices. The Protestant Archbishop of Armagh,

8 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

the celebrated Ussher, and twelve Protestant bishops, were
not ashamed to attach their signatures to a document which
stated that ' to give them [the Papists] a toleration, or to
consent that they may freely exercise their religion and profess
their faith and doctrine, was a grievous sin.' The Protestant
Archbishop of Dublin was not ashamed to perform in person
the work of persecution, when, in 1629, on St. Stephen's
Day, he and the Mayor of the city broke into the Franciscan
Chapel, Cook Street, 'and there defaced the altar and
oratory, and were leading away two friars which they took.'
They were, however, scarcely prepared for the opposition
which they encountered. For ' the devout women which
were in the oratory, together with young men that came to
the city, did so play on the Mayor and Archbishop and their
men, with stones and clubs, that they were forced to take
horse, and some persons were hurt.'

In the same year (1629), an event of considerable
importance for the diocese with which we are just now more
particularly concerned took place. Waterford had been with-
out a bishop since Patrick Walsh died, in 1558. It was part
of the settled policy of the Holy See at this period (O'Sullivan
Beare tells us), to abstain from appointing bishops in Ireland ;
for the revenue of the sees had been given over to the
Protestants, and it therefore became impossible to support the
episcopal dignity and honour. The archbishops had delegated
faculties to appoint vicars-general or vicars apostolic, with
large powers, to govern the dioceses. At last, after fifty years
of interregnum, Waterford obtained a supreme pastor in the
person of Patrick Comerford, a prelate who played a
distinguished part in the government of the people imme-
diately committed to his care, and a no less distinguished
part in shaping the destinies of the entire country, at one
of the most interesting and most memorable epochs in its
history.

Patrick Comerford was born in Waterford about the year
1586. His father was Kobert Comerford, a merchant of that
city, and his mother Anastasia White, of Clonmel. Both
families— the Comerfords and the Whites— were old, wealthy,
and influential, and both were Catholic of the Catholic.

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 9

The Coruerfords gave sixteen fathers to the Society of Jesus
alone, between 1590 and 1640 ; and we have the testimony
of the author of Cambrensis Eversus and the Alinothologia
for the fact that no other single family in all Ireland, not
even his own Gal way Lynches, gave so many priests to the
Irish Church, as the Whites.

This is not the time to narrate the history of the Whites;
but there is at least one member of that family whose
name should never be passed over in silence in any
assembly of Irish ecclesiastics, when the history of the
Irish Church, and more especially the history of the diocese
of Waterford and Lismore in the seventeenth century,
is being told. I refer to Thomas White. Born at
Clonmel, in the year 1556 or 1558, he went to the
Peninsula while he was yet young, and there spent the
remainder of his days, until his death, in 1622. But,
though an exile for life from Ireland, his heart was as
true to her and her ancient Church as if his steps had never
wandered from the banks of the Suir. For them he taught,
spoke, and wrote without ceasing ; -all his great influence ab
the court of Spain was wielded for them ; and I believe it is
no exaggeration to say that no other man — and God raised
up many powerful friends in many lands for the Irish
Church in the hour of her need — contributed as largely
to preserve the faith, or contributed with so child-like a
love, as this Jesuit from Clonmel, He gathered together,
with admirable devotion, Irish youths, and prepared them
for the Irish Mission at Valladolid and Seville ; but his
great claim to the undying gratitude of Irish Catholics
rests on the fact that he was the founder of the first Irish
college on the Continent — the College of Salamanca. Let
me quote one sentence from Father Hogan's Distinguished
Irishmen of the Seventeenth Century, to show what this Irish
College of Salamanca did. In the first fifty years of its
existence, under the directions of Father White and his
successors —

The Irish College at Salamanca educated three hundred
and seventy students, of whom were one Primate of All Ireland,
four archbishops, five bishops, nine provincials of religious orders,

10 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

thirty martyrs [whose lives were cut short by the sword or the
halter, by imprisonment, exile, and other calamities suffered for
the faith], one hundred and thirty religious, twelve distinguished
writers, and forty doctors of divinity and professors thereof,
many of whom [says Nieremberg] filled the first chairs in the
most celebrated universities of Europe.

Just or>3 extract more given, in Father Hogan's interest-
ing book, from an article by Dr. M'Donald, Eector of the
Irish College, Salamanca, in the I. E. EECOED of 1873-74 :—

He [Father White] did more for the preservation of the
faith in his native land than any other Irishman ever did, during
the terrible ordeal through which the Church of Ireland passed
in two or three centuries of persecution. To him is due the idea
of establishing Irish colleges in foreign lands, in order to educate
priests for the trying and dangerous Irish Mission. Clonmel
may well be proud of having been the birthplace of this saviour
of the faith in Ireland. Such a man is in every way worthy of
a national monument ; and I hope to see the day when the Irish
Church will, in gratitude to his memory, raise one in the capital
of the kingdom, and another in his native town.

May I add that I am in hearty sympathy with the wish
expressed in the eloquent words which close the extract.

I return to Dr. Comerford. He received his ear]y educa-
tion in the school of Dr. Peter White, who is well known in
the south of Ireland by the title of ' The Lucky School-
master of Munster.' Peter White is an interesting figure
in contemporary history. He was, there is reason to think,
nephew of the founder of Salamanca College. He was
born in Waterford, and educated at Oxford, in Dr. Newman's
College of Oriel. When he had completed his studies there,
he returned to Ireland, and set up a school, where a great
part of the youth of Waterford and the county of Dublin
were educated. He was appointed to the Deanery of
Waterford, for his learning and virtue, at the request of
the Bishop, Dr. Patrick Walsh ; but he did not hold the
office long. He refused to conform to the newly-established
Church, and was set aside. He returned to his old work of
teaching, ' which was then accounted a most excellent
employment in Ireland by the Catholics, especially for this
reason, that the sons of noblemen and gentlemen might be
trained up in their religion, and so, consequently, keep out

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY H

Protestancy. ' He had at least three pupils who after-
wards rose to eminence : Peter Lombard — not the Arch-
bishop of Armagh, though both were Waterford men and
contemporaries ; Patrick Comerford, afterwards Bishop of
Waterford ; and Eichard Stanihurst, uncle of Archbishop
Ussher, the author of many books well known in that time ;
called by Camden ' eruditissimus ille nobilis Ricardus
Stanihurst/ by Southey ' the common sewer of the
language, as Chaucer has been called the well of English
undefined,' and of whom Keating says, referring to the
bitter tone of his De Rebus Hiberniae Gestis, that ' hatred of
everything Irish was the first nourishment he ate.' We
next find Comerford at Bordeaux, a priest of the Augustinian
Order. There is in the Calendar of Irish State Papers
(1615-1625), extracted from a 'Book discovering the number
of Priests made in the College of Bordeaux,' an interesting
list of two hundred and eight Irish ecclesiastics, who are
described as ' being lodged and educated in the Regular
Congregation, established by Cardinal de Sourdis.' Of
these, some thirty are marked as ' Vaterfordien,' of whom
one is set down as ' Eev. Patrice Comerford, du Diocese de
Vaterford, Augustin. reforme,' and another as 'P. Geoffrey
Keating, Docteur en Theologie, Vaterfordien.' The former
is the future bishop, the latter the greatest of Irish his-
torians, who was, later on, to serve in the diocese of
Waterford, under the jurisdiction of his old college com-
panion, as parish priest of Tubrid, where he now lies
buried. Comerford afterwards taught theology at Terceiro
and Brussels, and became distinguished as a poet and an
orator, as well as a theologian. He subsequently served for
some time as prior of his order in Callan, and afterwards as
a missionary in Waterford, and finally was, at the request
of the priests of that diocese, appointed to fill the long
vacant see of Waterford and Lismore, and consecrated at
Eome, in the Oratory of St. Silvester, at the Quirinal, on
the 18th of March, in the year 1629.

It was not a mere idle fancy that suggested the
beautiful description, in which the historian of the Irish
hierarchy in the seventeenth century celebrates the event

12 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

that took place on the Quirinal that day. No Irishman
could regard it with indifference. They were raising up,
with the Church's most stately rite, in the great Home of
the Apostles, a bishop for the Parva Roma in Ireland. The
consecrating prelate was a cardinal of the Holy Roman
Church, and before him, as he raised his hands in blessing,
knelt a band of Irish exiles. Some were young levites of
the sanctuary, who were, at no distant day, to leave their
sweet haunts of peace, and face the horrors of persecution,
the rack and the gibbet, for their own old mother Church of
Ireland. Some were tottering, grey-haired old men, who
had already, on the battle-field, fought and bled for their
country — the last survivors from ' The Flight of the Earls.'
Their thoughts would easily have gone back to that other
day, one and twenty years before, when they mounted that
same Quirinal Hill for the first time, weary with travelling
by land and sea, and afterwards knelt, behind O'Neill and
O'Donnell, to receive the Holy Father's blessing, and hear
his warm words of welcome to their new home in the
Eternal City. But there was one more distinguished by far
than any other, and no tongue may easily tell the flood of
mingled thoughts, of hopes and memories, that burst upon
bis mind, as he realized the full meaning of the scene upon
which his eyes were fixed. It was Luke Wadding, claruni
ac venerabile nomen. To him this was much more than an
ordinary ceremony of the consecration of a bishop, though
there were few in or out of Home that day who, whatever
were the circumstances, would be more profoundly impressed
by the solemnity of such afunction. But for Wadding, at that
moment, it was the consecration of one who had been the
companion of his early childhood, his schoolmate, and the
faithful friend of his later years ; and more, it was the giving
to this friend of a commission that was to bear him back to
the City by the Suir, which both claimed for their own, and
loved with so fond an affection, that he might there rule and
teach, might take his stand boldly there against the oppressors
of his people ; and if so, as was not unlikely, it was God's holy
will, he might face the martyr's death, and, winning the
martyr's crown, pass to join the ranks of that ever-increasing

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1

band who in those days took their place with Patrick and
Columbkill, and Laurence, round the Great White Throne.

Comerford returned to Ireland without delay. He found
the country in a deplorable condition. She was oppressed
and steeped in poverty, without trade or commerce of any
sort, the land of ire. Besides the English governors she
had other enemies, ' a universal sickness and oppression by
soldiers at home, and abroad her merchants could not put
to sea for ten days without being taken by a Hollander, or a
Dunkerk, or a French pirate, or a hungry Briscanor.' The
very elements seemed to be in league with these enemies
for her discomfiture. ' The weather is so rainie and
drousie continually,' so he writes to his friend Luke
Wadding, 'that it doth imprint and indent in a man's
heart a certain saturn qualitie of heaviness, sloughiness,
laziness, and perpetual sloute.' But the condition of his
diocese afflicted him most of all. He found that it was
everywhere suffering from the effects of the long and
bitter trial through which it had passed. He was not the
man, however, to sit idly and shed useless tears, as long as
there was any possibility of ending the evils he had so much
reason to deplore. He entered immediately on the work
of the visitation of the diocese. He penetrated into every
corner of it, encouraging the clergy, now sadly reduced in
numbers, as far at least as the rural districts went, by
word and example, and administering the Sacrament of
Confirmation to all who needed it ; and amongst them he
had to number not merely the young, but often the very old
people of sixty or seventy years of age, as he tells us. His
next care was to convene a synod of the priests of the diocese,
where he enacted such laws as the times and the state of the
Church demanded. He appointed in the City of Waterford
five parish priests. This was the work of the first nine
months he spent in the diocese. His second great work
had for its purpose the establishment of more harmonious
relations between the secular and regular clergy, not only
in his own diocese, but through the entire country.

In the very first letter which he addressed to the Holy
See after his arrival in Ireland, we find him referring to

14 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

certain dissensions between both bodies, which he deeply
as justly deplored. He proposed the remedy, too. It was
adopted by the Holy See, and we have the authority of the
Irish agent in Rome for the statement that, since the first
commencement of the Anglican schism, no greater boon
had been conferred on the Irish Church. It was with
the utmost joy he was able to assure the Holy See that
Waterford, though sorely tried, remained faithful to its old
Catholic traditions : ' Haec nostra civitas Waterfordiensis,
quamvis saepius concussa, illibata tameii et fidelis, per miseri-
cordiam Dei, perstat.' To such a people did Comerford
devote all his zeal and energy, all his great powers of
body and mind, for nine years. He had his trials and his
difficulties, plenty of them, as we will easily understand.
Some came from within, from false brethren, and from
clergy, strangers who had up to this done little or no service
in the Church, in an undue attempt to exclude from the
enjoyment of parochial revenues their seniors, who had
borne the burden and heat of the day. Some came from
without, and particularly from the persistent efforts of the
Protestant party in the diocese, led by two successive
bishops, to pervert the youth by forcing them into Protestant
schools, and to drag the old into seeming conformity with
heresy, by putting into operation the worst laws that had
been passed against recusants. From beginning to end
the Bishop never wanted for the confidence and devoted
attachment of the people ; and in that confidence and
attachment he found the source of unfailing consolation,
and with it and through it he was able to defy all the
malice of his enemies.

But times even more troublous than any they had yet
known were at hand for himself and his people. Men who
were able to read the signs had long discerned the approach
of a storm. The sufferings of the Catholics, harassed by an
ever-increasing code of penal legislation, had now grown
great almost beyond endurance. The bitter sense of injury
which rankled in the minds of their chiefs, robbed as they
had been of all their earthly possessions, had grown into a
very madness; and, if behind them — people and leaders —

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 15

there was nothing but the memories of cruel wrong, before
them there was no hope but only the certain prospect of
still greater wrong, of more iniquitous laws, of the final
extirpation of the religion, which, as Mr. Lecky well puts it,
was fast becoming the passion as well as the consolation of
their lives, and afterwards of exile and, it may be, of death
for themselves and their children. They would try the
supreme arbitrament of the sword. If they won— then
they would have their happy homes, their free altars once
more ; if they lost — una spes victis nullam sperare salutem.
The great Irish Kebellion, as it' is called, began in Ulster, on
the 22nd of October, 1641. This is not the place to trace its
history. That it was darkened by great crimes no Irishman
need deny ; that these crimes were redeemed over and over
again by heroism, sacrifice, and a noble forgetfulness and
forgiveness of injuries, every man who has studied the facts,
and who is not hidebound with prejudice, will admit. This
much, too, should be said, that the Catholic party always
disclaimed the name of rebels ; that they unequivocally and
persistently proclaimed their allegiance to the king, and
their readiness to lay down arms when the two things for
which they contended were secured to them — restitution of
their property, and freedom for their religion.

The rebellion quickly spread to the south. Waterford
was taken, in December, by Edmund Butler, son of Lord
Mountgarrett, and Dungarvan and Clonmel within the same
month by Kichard Butler, of Kilcash, brother of the Marquis
of Ormond. By the end of December, the entire country,
except Dublin, Athlone, Kildare, and some strongly fortified
seaports, was in their hands. Comerford watched with eager
interest the progress of the rebel cause, but he abstained
from identifying himself publicly with it until late in the
following year. In the meantime events occurred which
drew him from the place of the mere sympathetic spectator,
and converted him into its open and vehement supporter.
The Anglo-Irish of the Pale — and he was an Anglo-Irishman
—for the first time in their history threw in their lot with
the native Irish, and entered heart and soul into the fight.
The Koyalist troops swept with fire and sword the country

16 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

from Lismore to Dungarvan, and, more than all, the Ulster
bishops had come to recognise that the cause for which the
rebels contended was just and holy, and solemnly called on
their flocks to take up arms ' for their religion, their country,
and their king.' Comerford hesitated no longer. He threw
himself into the struggle with all the ardour of his nature. He
was one of the principal promoters of the historic National
Synod held at Kilkenny on the 10th of May, 1642 , and he
had a large share in framing the oath of association which,
from that day, formed the bond of union between the
Confederated Catholics of Ireland. He was one of the
eleven spiritual peers who represented the Church at the
still more historic gathering held in the same place, the
month of October following, when the Confederation of
Kilkenny was inaugurated, in the last and by far the greatest
meeting of an Irish Parliament. He was one of the first to
welcome Einuccini on his arrival in Munster, and he stood
by him to the very last, through all the vicissitudes of his
most chequered of careers. He rejoiced with him in his
triumphs, the more because the most brilliant were won by
the skill and valour of his friend, Owen Hoe O'Neill ; and
when the artifices of Ormond and dissensions among his own
followers had blighted the Legate's hopes, he could always
count on the sympathy and support of the Bishop and
people of Waterford. Rinuccini was not unmindful of such
devotion, nor ungrateful for it. In his reports to the Holy
See, he described the Bishop of Waterford in terms of
strong praise, both for his public policy and for his official
administration of his diocese. Comerford, he said, was a
bishop whom all his colleagues might copy with advantage.
He was deeply impressed with the splendour of public
worship in Waterford ; nowhere outside of Borne had he
seen the ceremonies of the Church performed with more
reverence and more stateliness than in the cathedral there.

But Waterford and its Bishop proved again and again,
during these eventful days, that their devotion to the Church
was as true as it was outspoken. On the 1st of August, 1646,
Ormond's peace was proclaimed in Dublin. It was received
with strong manifestations of approval by a section of the

AN IRISH DIOCESE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 17

Confederate party ; but to the vast majority, as to Rinuccini,
it contained no sufficient guarantee that the grievances which
drove them to risk their lives and fortunes in rebellion
would be redressed, and they rejected it with scorn. When
the state heralds arrived in Waterford to announce it, they
were treated with every mark of indignity. No one would
lead them to the Mayor's house, and they were forced to
bribe a little boy to discover it. Having ab length found it,
the Mayor kept them waiting four hours for an audience.
When they asked His Worship, if he would not proclaim the
peace, he replied more Hibernico, by asking them ' why they
had not gone first to Kilkenny.' They answered him that
it was because Waterford was, next to Dublin, one of the
most ancient and considerable cities of the Kingdom. They
delayed three days in hopes of obtaining a more satisfactory
reply ; but they received none. They then left under a
threat from the people, that ' unless they made haste away,
they would be sent packing with withes [willow twigs]
about their necks.' Eight days afterwards the bishops,
twelve in number, and the representatives of the clergy,
secular and regular, assembled at Waterford, under the
presidency of the Legate, and decreed, with one voice,
that ' all and singular, the Confederate Catholics who shall
adhere or consent to such peace or to the fautors thereof,
or otherwise embrace the same, shall be held absolutely
perjured.' The decree was received with joy by the people,
and soon after the friends of Ormond came to regret that
they had consented to accept his terms.

It may, however, be doubted if the Nuncio had not
now seen- the happiest days of his embassy. But tie
faithful Bishop and people of Waterford were yet to see
one, the happiest, perhaps, of all. It was a March day in
1648. The Confederation had fallen upon evil times. Its
treasury was empty, its energies paralyzed by dissensions
in the Council Chamber. The Council itself was in treaty
with Inchiquin — Murrough of the Burnings — for surrender
and peace. Worse still, the one man who had all along
been the tower of its strength, whose genius and devotion
had gained for it whatever military distinction it could
VOL. r. B

18 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

claim — the stainless, dauntless Owen Roe — was thwarted on
every side by the mean jealousy of the Confederate leaders.
The spirits of the whole Irish party were at their very
lowest, when on that 23rd March, the sentry guarding
the ramparts of Duncannon Fort saw a ship flying the
papal colours enter Waterford harbour. She brought
noble gifts for poor Ireland — money for her soldiers and
for their general, a Father's blessing, and a sword which
that Father had blessed, too. It was the sword of Tyrone,
which Luke Wadding had taken from the dying Earl's hands,
and preserved in reverence for the day when another O'Neill
should arise greater still than the great Hugh, more powerful
to strike a deadly blow for the land both loved so well.

Within two months, the Council surrendered to Inchiquin,
the Nuncio's power was departed, and his mission practically
at an end. He fled from Kilkenny to Maryborough; and
there he pronounced a sentence of excommunication and
interdict against all who accepted the treaty with Inchiquin.
Comerford's loyalty was never more bravely displayed than
in the hour of the Nuncio's fall. He closed the churches in
Waterford immediately, and ordered that the celebration of
the Holy Mass and all the ministrations which an interdict
forbids, should cease. It was in vain that the excommuni-
cated Council called on him to disregard the censures, and
threatened him with deprivation of his temporalities, in the
event of a refusal. We have his fearless reply in the first
volume of the Spicilegium Ossoriense. When he received the
Nuncio's command, he answers the Council, he assembled
the most learned of the clergy, secular and regular ; and he
and they, without a single dissentient, agreed that all were
in conscience bound to obey that command. He laughed at
their threats to deprive him of his temporalities, for he
had none to lose. The greater part had already been seized
by the common enemy ; the remainder, by some members of
the Council, as the Council had already been informed. He
concludes in words well worthy of an Irish bishop and
confessor of the faith : ' But although I were to be stripped
justly or unjustly, of all the world could give, for my sub-
mission to the decrees of Holy Church, I will, nevertheless

19

persevere in obedience ; nor will I cease to pray God that
you may well and faithfully guide the Councils of the
Confederates of this kingdom.'

Comerford's connection with the Confederation ended
with these words. He had done one man's share to strike
off the chains that bound the Church and the country ;
and if he and those who shared his honoured toil failed
in their efforts, history will adjudge the blame to the
honest but most mistaken members of the party who put
their trust in men that had already proved themselves, some
hollow friends, others the cruellest of enemies. There is no
use in lamenting now what cannot be undone; but perhaps
it may not be amiss to emphasize for ourselves this one
fact, that right across the history of the Confederation's
dismal failure, there is written in letters that none but the
blindest can fail to read, as none but the most senseless
should fail to remember, the legend, Disunion and in
Disunion Disaster.

The Bishop now devoted himself altogether to the care
of his flock. Towards the close .of 1649, he and they found
themselves face to face with an enemy far more powerful
and, if possible, more cruel than even Inchiquin. Cromwell
appeared before the walls of Waterford on 24th November,
his sword still reeking with the blood of Drogheda and
"Wexford. He called on the garrison to surrender, promising
the civic privileges of London and freedom of religion for
the citizens. But they remembered Boss, and the brave
Governor Ferral gave back in person the answer to the
trumpeter: 'Go,' he said, 'and tell your master, that I
have two thousand Ulstermen with me ' — they were Owen
Boe's — ' and as long as there is one of them alive, I will
not surrender the town.' The siege went on; but on the
early morning of the 3rd of December, this very day, 246
years ago, Cromwell withdrew his troops to Dungarvan.
Ireton began a second siege early in June of the following
year, and the city fell on the 10th of August, but not
until three awful scourges — war, famine, and pestilence —
had deprived it of five thousand fighting men, and con-
verted it into a solitude. During all this time, Comerford

20 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

never ceased, by day or by night, labouring with and for
his people. He administered the Sacraments with his own
hands to the wounded, the famine-stricken and the
plague-stricken. He gave from his slender purse every-
thing he had, for the needy and the sick ; he was ready
to give his life, but God willed it otherwise. The annalist
tells us of the few who were left in Waterford, when the
siege was over. ' In varias mundi partes gloripsi Chris ti
Confessores ernigraverunt.' The father went into exile, too,
with his children, assuredly not the least of that noble band,
first to St. Malo and thence to Nantes, where he ended his
wanderings on earth, and gave up his pure soul to God 011
the 10th of March, 1652. His grave was made by strangers'
hands ; but it was not ' lonely,' nor were they ' heedless.'
In your College library yonder, there is a manuscript
containing an interesting reference to Comerford's funeral.
' Splendidissimo funere ad Cathedralem Ecclesiani delatus
fuit, singulis Parochiarum et Religiosorum Ordinum coetibus
Exequias prosequentibus, et aliis ei tanfcum cultum de-
ferentibus uti corporis ejus attactu Eosaria sacrari con-
ten derint.' They buried him in the Cathedral in the
episcopal vault, close by the high altar. When seven years
afterwards they opened the vault to receive the remains of
another exiled Irish bishop and confessor, Kobert Barry of
Cork, Comerford's ' comrade in arms ' of the old Con-
federation days, the body was found quite incorrupt. The
Irishman who visits Nantes now will seek that vault in vain,
as I sought it five years ago ; but it will be long, very long,
before the name of him who lay there once is forgotten.
Whilst we pray, for the confessors of our land, as we do every
morning at the altar, in the eternal memory that hallows
by God's own appointment the names of the just, may
it be given to us in our own day and sphere, and for their
needs, to walk not altogether unworthy of the bishops and
priests and clerics and people who kept in honour the faith
of ' an Irish Diocese in the Seventeenth Century.'

E. A. SHEEHAN.

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND
LEIGHLIN

(BORN, 1786; BISHOP, 1819; DIED, 1834.)

IT has been almost the rule at all times, and in all
nations, that the memory of their greatest men and
benefactors has had to await the resurrection. This is
especially the fate of those who have won their way by
conflict. In such cases it is almost inevitable that the
wounded who survive will take revenge upon the dead ;
and it may be without moral fault, from a supposed
duty of self-defence. Thus it was with Edmund Burke,
and with his countryman, the great Bishop of Kildare.
Both Burke and Bishop Doyle, were men who seemed
so completely under the influence of their moral convic-
tions and feelings, that inferior minds who suspect truth
when coming at once from heart and head, distrusted
them ; and, unfortunately, inferior minds are the chief
constituents of majorities. In the case of Burke, it is now
'acknowledged that the light which bewildered so many
of his contemporaries was only sunshine on the deep of
truth.

It is an extraordinary fact, growing more manifest every
day, that Burke was in his time at once the greatest defender
of authority and liberty. In another arena, and under
more difficult circumstances, the same may be said of the
Bishop of Kildare, and without exaggeration, we may
apply to him the words which Burke used of himself:
' I have struggled to the best of my power against two
great Public Evils, growing out of the most sacred of all
things, Liberty and Authority. ... I have struggled
against the Tyranny of Freedom, and the Licentiousness of
Power.'1 Now, neither power nor freedom are submissive

i Prior's Life of Burke, ii. 243.

22 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

subjects : it is only stern experience and stern punishment
which can subdue their pride. The two-fold conflict in
which Burke engaged, for America, and against the French
Revolution, with an interval of a quarter of a century, was
fought out by Bishop Doyle in one country, and at the
same time ; and as it seems clear that if Burke's counsels
had prevailed, England might have preserved America,
checked the French Eevolution, and been spared the
National Debt ; so it may be that Ireland would be
happier now, were it not that the fiery spirit of O'Connell
prevailed over the more moderate political wisdom of
Bishop Doyle.

It is no crime to say that the great Tribune as well as the
great Bishop made mistakes : the question is, whose mistakes
were the most serious? It would also be unfair to judge
them by the same standard. O'Connell was primarily a
politician, professor of what, I think, Cardinal Newman
calls ' a science of expediency ; ' whereas the Bishop, was
first of all, the representative of those eternal laws of
justice and charity, which are superior to all circum-
stances. Moreover, although the foremost man amongst
the bishops of Ireland, it was only by his genius. Like
a general of division on the battle-field, he had to keep
pace with his fellows, and above all to keep his eye
on that Supreme Chief of Christianity on whom every
bishop depends.

Knowing how Catholic ecclesiastics differ on the
application of principles, it is not likely that all his
venerable brethren felt quite secure when the fiery young
bishop of thirty-three put lance in rest, and charged, now
at tyrants, and now at rebels, and with equal success. Had
he once gone off the lines of the theology or practice of the
Church, and fallen under the ban of the Vicar of Christ, as
was asserted,1 he would have sunk as rapidly as he rose ;
for in Ireland, at least, no one out of favour with the Vicar

1 As late as 1861, it was thought necessary to set this question at rest.
The Bishop of Sandhurst, received a formal letter from the Sacred Congregation
of the Index, containing a categorical refutation of the calumny. (Fitzpatrick's
Life of Bishop Doyle, vol. ii., New Ed., App., p. 533.)

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 23

of Christ has ever yet preserved power over the people.
Even so learned and clear-minded a critic as Brownson
was misled, and has given us his cordial and generous
retraction : —

We had imbibed [he saysj a prejudice against Dr. Doyle,
and had no wish to make his acquaintance. . . But the work
before us [ Life by Fitzpatrick] has disabused us, and made it clear
that our prejudices were unjust — that he was a man of eminent
ability, a wise and zealous pastor, a brave and true patriot, a
profound and clear-sighted statesman — and a man to whom Ireland
is more indebted than to any other Irishman we have ever
heard of ! . . As far as his views are given by Mr. Fitzpatrick,
we find in them nothing that we, who claim to be a staunch
"Ultramontanist, cannot accept. ]

If to this we join the words of Cardinal Wiseman, the
contemporary of Bishop Doyle, I think enough will have
been said about the orthodoxy of the Bishop of Kildare.
The Cardinal refers in glowing language, to the effect of the
Bishop's writings on his own mind, ' writings which might
be said to be the first trumpet-note of that outspoken
Catholicity, and bold avowal of faith which had since
become the general tone of the country ;' and he links
his name with that of the great English leader, Bishop
Milner, ' another great man, closely connected with him
in feelings and views.' 2

When a priest indulges in unlimited language about his
order in general, or in particular, his words are often sup-
posed to be tainted with self-assertion. It is, as if people
thought that Christianity was in some way a private interest
of the priest. It certainly is our private interest, but not
more so than to the laity, unless our souls are supposed
to be more valuable than theirs. We are specially objects
of suspicion when we touch upon social and political
questions, in which the world assumes equal, or even greater
authority ; which, in fact, it has ; and so much the worse for
the world. If we claim the first place in all that is highest and

3 Ibid. Life by Fitzpatrick, vol. ii., New Ed., 1880. App. 7. I think I am
safe in assuming, that the ' we ' of the review, means Dr. Brownson.
8 Cardinal Wiseman's Tour in Ireland in 1858, p. 309. Duffy, 1859.

24 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

most sacred in human life, it is because to take the second,
would be to acknowledge that human reason is wiser without
Christ. Whether people can conceive a world subsisting
without religion, I cannot tell ; but certainly there has been
no such experience on this orb of ours. Amongst religions
none has brought in its train so many blessings, material
and moral, a? the religion of Christ. If priests are par-
ticularly urgent on this point, it is because, as a rule, they
know its history best, and have had the best opportunities
of studying its influence on human life. Moreover, all
priests have once been laymen, so they know both sides,
and to them above all men are given the opportunity
of following the ways of the human heart from the
cradle to the grave, and sounding the depths from whence
come peace and joy, which are as much elements of
success in the struggle for life here below, as for the
life above.

If these principles are granted, the reader will under-
stand why I am inclined to agree with Brownson, that
Bishop Doyle, as leader in the religious revival of his
country, was ' a man to whom Ireland is more indebted
than to any other Irishman.' We cannot compare Ireland
with any nation, past or present, except perhaps with the
people of God of the Old Testament. Since her conquest
by St. Patrick, few things have prospered in Ireland, save
those which were inspired and guided by religion. This
was the conclusion of that truly philosophic writer,
Gustave de Beaumont, who, in 1835, and again in 1837,
came to Ireland, and studied her social and political life
with a mind and a heart free from the prejudices from
which friends and enemies, involved in her trials, find it
so hard to divest themselves ; and the questions suggested,
' grave as they are for England, are not a matter of
indifference to any nation.' The conclusion to which he
came was that, ' in the midst of the agitations of which
his country and his soul have been the theatre, the
Irishman who has seen the consummation of so many
ruins within and without him, has no belief in the stability
and certainty of anything in this world save his religion. . .

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 25

For the Irishman there is nothing sovereignly true but
his religion.' l

Have things altered in the sixty years which have elapsed
since these words were written ? Has anything in Ireland,
merely political or social, stood the test of even a decade of
years? Whereas, her religious triumphs and expansion,
measured even by the material evidence of the churches,
convents, and charitable institutions of the country is one of
the greatest wonders of the nineteenth century. Even as
regards material advantages, is it not true that her religion
has been her best friend ? - Can we compare the very
moderate Government grants here and there, for fishing
stations and light railways with the twenty, or perhaps thirty
millions which has been spent in building houses for
God, and homes for the poor, at the same time giving
employment to the labourer, and keeping capital in the
country? The amount of money in a country is not
the evidence of its prosperity; it is money spent that
fructifies. When Cobbett was told that it was impossible
that people could starve in Ireland as there was plenty of
money in the country ; ' Money ! ' he replied, ' men do not
eat money.'

It is true that great edifices do not always fructify
to the poor. The palace of the millionaire, surrounded by
immense preserves, and seldom occupied, is of very little
use to the poor, or indeed to anyone. But the case is very
different as regards edifices consecrated to Christ, for the
simple reason that they are inhabited by the poor man's
servants : servants in his temporal as well as his spiritual
wants. In the past, so tranquil and readable in the distance,
Mr. Lecky has discovered that * monastic institutions were
the only refuges of a pacific civilisation ; the only libraries,
the only schools, the only centres of art, the only refuges
for gentle and intellectual natures; the chief barrier against
violence and rapine ; the chief promoters of agriculture and
of industry.' 2 Why should the past not return ?

1 L'Irlande Sociale Potttique et Reliqwuse, ii., p. 37, ed. 1881.

2 The Political Value of History, p. 14. London, 1892.

26 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

I think it is clear that in the years preceding and subse-
quent to Emancipation, Bishop Doyle held that the making
of Ireland was primarily to be the work of religion : that he
wished religion to rule, whereas O'Conneli only wanted her
assistance ; and that this was the secret of their calamitous
division. As well as I can understand the mind of Bishop
Doyle, as contrasted with that of O'Conneli. it seems to me
that the Bishop thought more of the training of what
may be called the newborn nation than of those particular
measures with which O'Conneli so passionately and fitfully
identified himself. "We are justly indignant when haughty
and supercilious strangers speak contemptuously of the
ignorance, lawlessness, and superstition of our immediate
forefathers. It is true that they had not the same oppor-
tunities for multifarious information as the shoemakers,
tailors, and errand boys of Paris and London ; but I doubt
much whether these latter personages would be capable of
equally appreciating the sublime religious and social dis-
courses by which Bishop Doyle subjugated the colliers and
peasants of the diocese of Kildare. As to superstition, it is
an easy word to use. Voltaire flung it at Dr. Johnson ; but
those amongst us who were in familiar intercourse with
Irish servants of the olden times, will, I believe, agree
with me that they were quite as intelligent people, as
regards their religious opinions, as they are at the present
day.1

The charge of lawlessness is more serious ; but how
could it be otherwise, when for centuries there had been no
law for Catholics? Had they been less courageous they
would either have given up their religion, or sunk into unre-
sisting apathy, and then things would have gone on quietly ;
but as neither happened, resistance to the law by force or
stratagem, had become the animating principle of the life of
the nation. It was a bold venture when Bishop Doyle set
himself to prove that the British Constitution, under the
shadow of which this mockery of justice lived and reigned

1 For my own part, I can testify, that while in London, I have had sad
troubles with the superstitious insanities of educated people of other nations,
I have never met it amongst the Irish poor.

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 27

in Ireland, was, under the circumstances, and perhaps under
any circumstances, the best instrument for the political
salvation of Ireland. I am not aware that anyone in Ireland
before Bishop Doyle had clearly taught this doctrine, although
it was the opinion of Edmund Burke. In the eyes, not only
of the people, but of most educated Catholics, the British
Constitution was identified with Henry and Elizabeth,
Cromwell and William of Orange, and with representatives
of justice like Lord Clare, Lord Norbury, and Mr. Judkin
Fitzgerald. To Ireland, then, the Constitution was only
known as the agent of the religion which Macaulay stig-
matizes as ' sprung from brutal passion, nurtured by
selfish policy.' It is easy therefore to understand how
it needed all the genius, .the undoubted patriotism, and
the popularity of the Bishop of Kildare to obtain a
hearing when he declared his belief ' that a special Provi-
dence watched over this Empire, and that there is a sort
of redeeming spirit in our Constitution.' l He does not stop
to explain how or why it was that while so many nations
had lost the very idea of liberty, under the protection of
law, England had preserved so much of the spirit of the
laws of the ' good King Edward ; ' laws which had been
advancing to maturity for centuries before the Confessor,
in days when Irish bishops, missionaries, and monks, coming
down from lona and Lindisfarne, were amongst the chief
makers of England ; and when her sons, ' numerous as
bees,' as St. Aldhelm tells, went over the water to the
' University of the West,' to learn wisdom in Ireland.

Burke attributes the preservation of the British Constitu-
tion at the time when Erench insanity appeared in England,
under the patronage of Tom Paine, Mrs. Macaulay, Fox,
and Sheridan, partly to what he calls •' our sullen resistance
to innovation.' But he himself, and the men who strangled
the hydra, were influenced by higher motives than mere
dread of change. Cardinal Newman has characterized the
British Constitution as ' one of the greatest of human
works ... as admirable in its own line, to take the

1 Fitzpatrick's Life of Bishop Doyle, ii. 372.

28 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

productions of genius in its various departments, as the
Pyramids, or the plays of Shakespere, or the Newtonian
theory.' l

I cannot recall any other instance in which this great
lover of his country shows pure delight in his reflections
on her national life and institutions. Even as a young
Protestant, he mourned and feared for her whom he
styles,

Tyre of the West, and glorying in the name
More than in Faith's pure fame!

Dread thine own power ! Since haughty Babel's prime,
High towers have been man's crime.

The work from which I have quoted above is a terrible
indictment, directed indeed against the religion of England,
but in his mind religion was ever the measure of all things.
Outside the pages of Holy Writ is there anything more
piercing than the voico of his lamentations over his native
land?—

Look around [he says] and answer for yourselves. Con-
template the objects of this people's praise. Survey their standards.
. . . Their god is Mammon. I do not mean to say that all
seek to be wealthy, but all bow down before wealth. . . . They
measure happiness by wealth, and by wealth they measure
respectability. ... At the sight of wealth they feel an involuntary
reference and awe, just as if a rich man must be a good man. . . .
Alas ! alas ! this great and noble people, born to aspire, born
for reverence. 2

I cannot perceive that either Burke or Bishop Doyle
were really bent on having anything from England,
except her Constitution ; and if it can be proved that
Bishop Doyle did more than any other Irishman to bring
about this consummation he will have strong claims to
pre-eminence. O'Connell fought, as no man ever fought,

1 Presfnt Position of Catholic:, p. 25, 4th Ed.

2 ' Saintliness, the Standard of Christian Principle.' Mixed Disc. v.

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 29

with the sword of the Constitution; but it was the Bishop
who had put it into an Irish scabbard. I do not think it
is possible to deny that O'Connell'was again and again on
the point of rebellion, and that were he not held back by
the conviction that the Church would not support him, he
would have anticipated ' Young Ireland,' its ' barricades
and its god of battles,' and probably with far more
disastrous results.

When Bishop Doyle, by his sermons, and those wonder-
ful manifestos, which year after year went forth from his
little room in Carlow, told the people, that as they had
got much already, by patience and passive resistance, so
they might get everything, his promises would have had
little influence were it not for his periodical invasions of
England, and his returns in triumph, when it was well
known, even from the acknowledgments of his opponents,
that he had fought and conquered both Lords and Commons
of Great Britain in Parliament assembled : proving that
'even-handed justice ' was the animating principle of the
Constitution, and that with it he could turn the sword of the
Assyrian against himself.

It is hard to invest any mere Irish question with that
classic dignity and splendour with which eloquence adorns
things that are far away ; but I doubt whether either Cicero
defending Sicily ; Tacitus, Africa ; or Burke assailing
Warren Hastings, were greater in their day than the Bishop
of Kildare at Westminster, standing or sitting at the end
of the horse-shoe table, around which were assembled the
greatest men of the British Empire, and that in an age of
great men. Those ' Examinations,' as they were called, in
the years preceding Catholic Emancipation, of witnesses
from Ireland before the chief representatives of both
Houses of Parliament, were State Trials, in the highest
sense of the word ; and it was principally owing to the
commanding genius of the Bishop of Kildare, that, in the
end, the witnesses changed places with the judges. ' When
O'Connell, Dr. Doyle, and others,' says Bishop Ullathorne,
' were examined on the question of Emancipation, one
distinguished peer said to another after the Bishop's

30 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

examination, that Dr. Doyle as far surpassed O'Connell, as
O'Connell surpassed other men;'1 and no one who studies
the writings of these great men can fail to see the justice
of the verdict. It is hard to say who deserves most honour;
the witness who conquered, or the judges who surrendered.
Of all the laurels of Wellington, none are more glorious than
the noble acknowledgment of those well-known words, when
during the examination of the Bishop of Kildare, meeting
a brother peer who said : ' Well, Duke, are you examin-
ing Dr. Doyle?' 'No,' was the reply, 'but Doyle is
examining us." 2 The history of these examinations would
fill many volumes. On one occasion the Bishop's answer to
one question occupied four days. It was the first opportu-
nity that the collective wisdom of England had of hearing
the truth about Catholic doctrines, and Catholic priests, and
their relations with their flocks, and for a time the effect
was prodigious. When we study the letters of Lord Darnley,
Lord Plunkett, Sir Henry Parnell, and others of the same
stamp, given by Eitzpatrick : the writings of Sydney Smith,
and the debates in Parliament at the period of Catholic
Emancipation, and compare these writers and speakers
with their successors, it is plain that the darkness of bigotry
again fell on the Protestant brain. It was a time when
Parliament was called on to try the noblest cause which
could come before a human tribunal, and the minds of
those who were on the right side were ennobled and
enlightened by the truth which they were called on to
set free.

When the work was done, and Protestant statesmen found
that Catholic liberty, because it was incomplete, in many
ways increased their troubles, then came a half century
characterized by that vague and ignorant hostility and
distrust of the Catholic clergy of which Palmerston and Lord
John Russell were representatives. The process of again
disabusing the English mind, and vindicating Irish priests
and their religion, has been a slow one, for instead of
a fair trial before the first and most enlightened tribunal

Life of Bishop Doyle. Fitzpatrick, i., p. 409. 2 Ibid., p. 407.

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 31

of the Empire, it has had to be fought out by reviewers,
novelists, and special correspondents — good, bad, and in-
different. For all that, the Irish priests have won the day.
Mr. MacDonagh's article in the Contemporary Eeview, of
April, 1896, on 'The Irish Priesthood,' is a very fair specimen
of the now common judgment of dispassionate people in
England. It is plain that he has taken trouble to find out
what sort of being is the Irish priest, and that he has
got that immunity from national and sectarian bitterness
without which such an investigation is ever a mockery.
The following are some of his conclusions : —

Perhaps no better pastors in the world, from a spiritual point
of view . . . simple-minded, unworldly . . . self-sacrificing^ives,
seeking no reward, as far as this world is concerned, but the esteem
and love of their flocks, . . . ; as a body, they are really in Ireland,
as in other countries, a great conservative force . . . they have
controlled and checked, rather than inflamed, the excesses of
• popular agitation . . . two attempts at rebellion against English
rule in Ireland, in 1848 and 1869. The leaders of both those
revolutionary movements attribute their failure to the hostile
influence of the priests.1

Why is it that this information has still to be given to our
friends in England? Has it been otherwise in those eighty
years since Bishop Doyle began his war against Secret
Societies in the collieries and villages of Leinster ? We old
people, who can remember the bishops and priests who were
his associates, and the people whom he taught, know right
well that the only difference is, that the clergy are more
conservative now, for the simple reason that they have
something to conserve ; for their principles have never, and
can never change : of all men in the world they are most
under the dominion of principle, that servitude to Him
of whom St. Paul writes, Cui servire regnare est.

If the adversaries of the Church have not observed this,
it is because they would not observe it, and yet they have
acted upon it. If the principles of the Catholic clergy had been
as easily adapted to rebellion, as those of Presbyterian

1 Pages 541, 542.

32 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

ministers, or the chaplains of Orange Lodges, they would have
got all that they wanted long ago. Moreover, statesmen who
reflected at all, must have observed that of all religions, the
Catholic is that which at once, when it has liberty, tends to
make a stake for itself in the country. Never was bigotry
more ungoverned by reason, and therefore more criminal,
than when it assumed that priests who were straining every
energy, spending all they possessed, and borrowing and
begging in their own and other lands to build churches,
monasteries, convents, schools, and hospitals, were at the
same time longing for civil war, that all these things might
be set on fire. What are the vested interests, and immovable
investments created by the Protestant clergy in Ireland, or
even in England, compared with those great religious edifices,
which since Emancipation have risen in town and country
through the length and breadth of Ireland, and chiefly through
the labour of her priests? And within those walls were their
own flesh and blood, the gentle ministers of the mercy and
love of God, trained indeed for conquests, but only for
those of Christ. Unless Bishop Doyle was a prophet, of
which there are no signs, he could not know all that we
know now. But it is his glory that he stands out as the
chief representative of the policy of the consolidation of
Ireland by religion, in the days when the sun of Emancipa-
tion rose, and her new life began.

Whatever may be thought of this claim , here preferred for
Bishop Doyle's equality, at least, with that wonderful man to
whom Catholics have decreed the sublime title of ' Liberator,'
anyhow it cannot be denied that his life was both romantic
and heroic. Born, 1786, at New Boss, Wexford, the son
of a peasant, who should have been a proprietor were it not
for the loyalty of his ancestors to God, our Lady, and the
Stuart King ; in ' '98,' in the midst of the Bebellion ;
1806, an Augustinian, and student at Coimbra, 1808 ;
a Volunteer against the French invaders and theBevolution,
same year; returns to Ireland, ordained and teaches
Khetoric and Theology at New Boss and Carlow, 1819 ;
consecrated Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Aet. 33; 'a
very young prelate, sir,' as Milner said ; but he had seen

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 33

much of life, and he had the gift of measuring it. His
youth gives a colour of humour to his successes. We
can imagine the amazement and bewilderment of aged
senators, ministers, and judges, when this young Irishman,
with his bright complexion, dark eyes, and deep sonorous
voice, whose episcopal character was little respected,
entered the lists of the Imperial Senate, and threw down the
gauntlet, with manifest signs in word and bearing that
he was prepared to face anyone amongst them, or every-
one, as they pleased. The chiefs amongst those who listened
to him were men who had been acquainted with great
characters, and had learned how to measure them. They
knew that what is mere impudence and effrontery in the
ignorant, is the majesty and victory of truth in the wise ;
and because Wellington, Lord Darnley, Lord Anglesey,
and such men had understanding, they admired their great
antagonist, even as they went down before his lance, and
they were not ashamed to surrender. l

After the Bishop's death, Lord Anglesey related, how
during the Examination some peer put an absurd question,
and that, with a commanding- gesture, the Bishop said :
* I did not think there was a British peer so ignorant
as to ask such a question.' 2

The narrative of these examinations in Fitzpatrick's
Life of Bishop Doyle reminds us of St. Basil before the
Prefect Modestus, as told by St. Gregory : —

Modestus. ' For whom do you take me ? '

Basil. ' For a thing of naught, while such are your commands.'

Modestus. ' No one ever yet spoke to Modestus with such
freedom.'

Basil. ' Peradventure Modestus never yet fell in with a bishop :
or, surely, in a like trial you would have heard like language. . .
Where God's honour is at stake we think of nothing else, looking
simply on Him.'

Modestus parted, with the respect which firmness necessarily
inspires in those who witness it. 3

i

Probably it was Bishop Doyle who taught Wellington his laconic and
memorable defence of Lis inconsistency ; ' I have changed my opinion, I have
changed my opinion.'

2 Fitzpatrick's Life of Bishop Doyle, i. 408.

3 Hint. Sketches, Cardinal Newman, ii. 10.
L. I.

34 TKE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Many of those who listened to Bishop Doyle were men
who could stand comparison even with Eomans of an earlier
and nobler period. It is remarkable that his battles at
Westminster were fought and won at a time when England
was under martial law in its best sense ; when Waterloo
was still on the brain, and Wellington dictator, Lord
Anglesey, Viceroy of Ireland, and a Sailor Prince on the steps
of the throne was hurling defiance in the House of Lords at
the bigotry and folly of his ancestors.1 To such men the
fearless bearing of the Bishop of Kildare must have had
singular attractions. Moreover, of alt rulers of men, military
and naval commanders are most likely to be practical in
their politics as far as subordinates are concerned; for
success, and even life itself, are continually dependent on
the cordial support of the least of their subjects. We cannot
imagine an army or a fleet governed by that jobbery and
chicanery and underhand dealing, which so often in
politics, 'by dividing rules.'

It needed neither great knowledge of history, nor deep
reflection, to understand Bishop Doyle when he declared
that the laws in Ireland were so perverted that ' they had
not educated the people on principles agreeable to reason
or the law of God : hence, human nature has either been
perverted by them, or revolted against them.' In the words
of the Chancellor, Lord Redesdale, ' there was one law for
the rich, and another for the poor.' 2 These were the facts,
then came his conclusions : —

The Irish will become reformers. Aye, to a certainty they
will, if you continue to treat them unjustly, and reformers of the
very worst description ; they will ally themselves with any enemy
that political corruption may have. The man who is in pursuit
of a robber, and seeking to recover his goods, does not inquire of
the person who joins him in the pursuit, whence he came, or
what his character or object is. ... Just so the Irish. Eeject
them, insult them, continue to deprive them of hope, and they
will league with Beelzebub against you. 3

1 Dute of Clarence. Hansard, Feb. 20, 1829. The disgust and horror of
1 the law ' in Ireland, expressed by Sir Halph Abercrombie, and Sir John Moore,
were probably remembered by their military friends.

2 Letters on the Slate of Ireland, by J. K. L. (Bp. Doyle), 88. Dublin, 1825.

. 284.

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 35

As I have said, extremes met, and were harmonized in the
politics of the Bishop of Kildare ; and this, which will be his
glory in ages that are coming, was in his own time the
secret of his bitterest disappointments. Thoughtful men, at
a distance, with the cool waters of the Irish Sea between
them and the chronic volcanoes of Ireland, could calmly
exercise their 'large discourse, looking before and after;' but
perhaps it was too much, at the time, to expect this in Ireland
itself. Anyhow it came to pass, that even O'Connell could not
understand the oecumenical wisdom of the man who saw all
things in God, and measured all things by the measurements
of God. Here was a man who, apparently without any
attempt to measure his words, was one day flooding Ireland
with letters and manifestos against the existing laws and
government as fierce as Edmund Burke's assaults on the
' Cannibal Republic of France,' and the next issuing a Pastoral
if possible still fiercer, against illegal associations and secret
societies, on which the Government sprung, not to suppress,
but to propagate, printing at their own expense, and dis-
tributing 300,000 copies throughout the length and breadth
of Ireland.

In the world of nature, as well as of grace, ' the end is the
trial.' It may be too much to say that the last days of
Bishop Doyle came up to the level of heroic sanctity ; but
certainly in many ways they approached it. Few dying men
have ever fought harder and longer for others ; greater love
than this no man hath ; and the struggle that killed him
while still in the prime of life, was with those Secret Societies
which for more than a century have been the worst enemies
of Ireland in every sense of the word.

To critics who seek for fame by lecturing the mighty
dead, we leave the task of deciding whether or no he was
too severe in his anathemas and punishments : too much
given to imitate the antique spirit of better times, when
St. Ambrose condemned a submissive Emperor to eight
months' exclusion from the Church and the Sacraments, for
barbarity to his subjects. Whether too severe or not, one
thing is certain that neither before nor since has anyone done
so mach to stamp with infamy all secret speculators in

36 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

rebellion, whether designing or merely reckless. Of all the
triumphs of the Catholic religion in Ireland, her victories
over Secret Societies have been the most astounding. On
every side she was girt by Secret Societies — Freemason,
Orange, and United Irish, fostered by the state, and blessed
as far as she could bless, by the state religion ; while murder,
their agent, in the shape of duelling, was legalized amongst
those governing classes, not excepting the judges, whom
the people were expected to revere and imitate. Whatever
the deficiencies of the Irishman may be, 110 one ever said
that he was wanting in logic; and this logic taught him
that before God he had just as good a right to shoot his
enemy as the venerable Duke of Wellington to go out in
the cool quiet morning, to shoot, or be shot, by his friend
Lord Winchelsea, even though, as it happened, it was for
the sake of Catholic Ireland.

The prevalence of the hideous plague of duelling in
Ireland in the first half of this century was something
almost incredible. It was noc confined to Protestants ; for,
unfortunately, there were many Catholics who were such
only in name under the influence of mixed Protestant and
French education, as well as of French refugees in Ireland.
Freemasonry also deceived many : O'Connell was a Free-
mason until he discovered its atheistic spirit. If Mr. Lecky
before he wrote his History of Ireland, had come out of
his library and condescended to interrogate some of us as to
our family traditions, he would have been better able to
discover the well-springs of social disorder in Ireland : even
Lever might have enlightened him, for the manners of
the Irish gentry are fairly described by this novelist, who
in other respects is so obnoxious. Sir J. Barrington,
himself an Irish judge, gives a record of two hundred and
twenty-seven ' memorable and official duels,' as he styles
them, fought in his time, the combatants including a Lord
Chancellor, six Judges, of whom three were Chief Justices,
and observes : ' 1 think I may challenge any country in
Europe to show such an assemblage of gallant judicial and
official antagonists at fire and sword.' *

1 Personal Sketches of his own Times, ii., p. 3.

JAMES DOYLE, BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN 37

Such were the men who were given to the Irish people,
as the representatives and dispensers of the justice of God
and man ; and the reckless and murderous spirit which reigned
in the Courts, found pupils and emulators in every rank of
society. Into this ' moral chaos,' as the Bishop styles it,
with every power — political, legal, and social — leagued against
her, the Church had to infuse order. Who can deny that
she has succeeded beyond all human expectation ? The
citadels of God and the shrines of the Madonna are her
witnesses. Aye, and we may ask, who is it that has given
to the empire those soldiers and sailors who have carried,
and are carrying, the British standard round the world?
Who is it that has taught them ' the unbought grace of
life,' that ' subordination of the heart, which kept alive,
even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom '?
Certainly it was not the Established Church, nor the Free-
masons, nor Orange Societies, nor even Trinity College.
Again, is it not true that English masters and mistresses,
entice, almost kidnap, Irish servants, and carry them off
to England, because they know that money and jewels,
the honour of their families,- and their own throats are
safest with such domestics ?

And now if I have made good my point, that the Hero of
Kildare was the leader in the work of the religious and moral
regeneration of emancipated Ireland, it is plain that he is one
to whom many of the inhabitants of the globe are debtors,
and will remain so until Christ comes to judge. If they
neglect his memory, and turn instead to the heroic ideals of
Thomas Carlyle, or George Eliot, so much the worse for
them. The only real heroic ideals are those which are proved
by their fruits, consecrated by time, and by the rule and
measure of unchanging truth. The Bishop of Kildare
was only one amongst many whose heroic lives would
have been recorded in any other country. In Ireland,
writes Mr. S. C. Hall, heroic charity is so common that it
attracts no attention : ' There are no village annals for
village virtues.' l Who is there in Ireland whose memory

1 Ireland, i., p. 268.

38 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

goes back even for half a century, who from personal or
family recollections cannot summon up images of bishops
and priests whose very names sounds like the trumpet
of an angel in his soul? The first priest I remember
was Father Sheahan of Glandore (1838), one of the heroes of
the famine and the fever years. Who here below has recorded
his deeds ? I have before me one of his letters to my mother
(April 25, 1847), written when we were far away. ' I nearly
fell a victim,' he writes, ' to our labour in consequence of
the prevailing distress.' This is all he says of himself;
but across the Atlantic other voices came telling how, while
doing a giant's work, he was at the same time living on the
'yellow meal,' with his starving flock. The lesson then
that the life of Bishop Doyle teaches us is to love, and to
exult in the remembrance of our forefathers to whom we
owe the liberty with which Christ has set us free, and those
examples of heroic self-sacrifice which have ever been the
life of nations worthy of the name.

W. B. MORRIS.

[ 39

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF ' THE
IMITATION OF CHRIST'?

I.

AS we know that the Holy Scripture came rorn God,
Fontenelle did not outstep the truth when he desig-
nated The Imitation of Christ as the most beautiful book
that ever came from the hand of man. Beyond doubt
it most perfectly reflects the light which Jesus Christ
brought down from heaven to earth, and truthfully portrays
the highest Christian philosophy. When our Divine Saviour
preached the Sermon on the Mount, He held up as the
characteristics of His followers — perfect humility, poverty
of spirit, purity of heart, meekness, sorrow for sin, forgive-
ness of injuries, and peace and joy in the midst of tribulation
and persecution. Where else do we find these doctrines so
incisively and persuasively taught as in The Imitation? In
this one book, as Dean Milman says, ' was gathered and
concentred all that was elevating, passionate, profoundly
pious, in all the older mystics,' and no one ever could resist
its power, ' its short quivering sentences, which went at
once to the heart.'

How, and why, it may be asked, was the author able to
compass within the covers of this slender volume, so much
wisdom) such vast spiritual experience, poetry, and profound
philosophy ? Such is the question put by the late Brother
Azarias, in his essay on ' Culture of the Spiritual Sense/
wherein he gives us the most perfect and beautiful analysis
of The Imitation ever written. Let me quote his reply : —

Here is the secret of the magic influence wielded by the
Imitation. Pick it up when or where we may, open it at any
page we will, we always find something to suit our frame of mind.
The author's genius has such complete control of the subject, and
handles it with so firm a grasp, that in every sentence we find
condensed the experience of ages. It is humanity, finding in
this simple man an adequate mouthpiece for the utterance of its
spiritual wants and soul-yearnings. And his expression is so full

40 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

and adequate, because he regarded things in the white light of
God's truth, and saw their nature and their worth clearly and
distinctly, as divested of the hues and tints flung around them
by passion and illusion.

Apart from the countless effects which the study of this
wondrous volume is certain to produce, none is more natural
than a longing to know something of its author. Just half
a century ago I began to ask myself the question: — Who
wrote this book, and what manner of man was he? Thence-
forth I commenced to study the subject, and in 1887 I
published the result of my researches.1 I can well under-
stand that many feel as I did, especially those who, having
spiritual charge of others, advise them to read The Imitation,
In the hope of giving to such, in very brief and simple
fashion, the information which cost me long and laborious
research, I shall now endeavour to condense all essentials
into the smallest possible space.

Those who wish to study the subject deeply, will, I
think, find in my essay quoted all they need. I believe
it is impossible for any unprejudiced reader to master the
evidence I have there produced, without arriving at the
conclusion that the authorship of The Imitation of Christ
must be assigned to Thomas a Kempis, Canon Eegular of
St. Augustine, who lived and died in the monastery of
Mount St. Agnes, near Zwolle, in Holland. When I use
the term authorship, I should explain the exact limits within
which I believe it applies to a Kempis. It seems evident
that he was not the sole or original author in the ordinary
sense of the word. On the other hand, it is equally manifest
that he was the skilled collector, compiler, and arranger of
the book, which, when studied to the bottom, proves to be
an epitome or hand-book, embodying especially the teach-
ing of the Holy Scripture, St. Bernard, and the writers and
inspirers of the school of Windesheim, to which latter we
shall allude presently.

Before proceeding to consider and analyze the strange

1 Thomas a Kempis. By F. R. Cruise, M.D. Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.
London, 1887.

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 41

controversy which formerly existed as to the authorship of
The Imitation, it will be desirable to give a brief outline of
the life and surroundings of Thomas a Kempis, the man
towards whom all existing evidence points. In fact this
course is necessary, because it opens up the history of the
school of Windesheim, the cradle of the book in question,
and of which a Kempis was pre-eminently the literary
exponent. I may observe that I think it better to omit, as
far as possible, in this essay, references to the various autho-
rities from whom I quote. They may be found in extenso in
my former work, and all interested in the subject can satisfy
themselves, as I have done, of their accuracy and fulness.
So far as I am aware, not a single one has been challenged
or found erroneous.

Let us now look back into the years preceding the
fifteenth century. Strange and troubled were those times,
and fraught with scandal and confusion. Human ambition
and the curses of wealth and worldliness had eaten their
way, so far as God permitted, into the very fold of Christ.
Prosperity had done its worst. What persecution had failed
to do luxury bade fair to accomplish. To a considerable
extent the morals of the people, and even of the clergy,
from the highest to the lowest, were deeply corrupted, and
the Church appeared in urgent danger. The Council of
Lyons, summoned by Pope Gregory X., A.D. 1274, succeeded
in adjusting for the time the schism of the Greeks, and peace
reigned until the death of Michael Palaeologus, Emperor of
Constantinople. Then the heresy broke forth again, and
has never since been extinguished.

Amidst the confusion and disorder thus inaugurated, a
still more scandalous revolt arose to harass and lay waste
the Church of God — the Papal schism — the great schism of
the West. An internal convulsion now shook the house
of God. Rival popes struggled for the Chair of Peter.
Christendom was bewildered, nations doubted whom they
should obey, and the unity of faith seemed in peril. Never
since the days of Julian the Apostate uprose a crisis so
terrible or so dangerous. Still, above all came the promise

42 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

of God, that He would be with His Church all days, even
to the consummation of the world. Hence neither perse-
cution, heresy, nor laxity ever shook the faith, because as
St. Bernard tells us : ' The generation of Christians can
never come to an end ; neither can faith perish from the
earth, nor charity from within the Church.'

Just about this time a great religious movement com-
menced in Germany and the adjacent Low Countries.
Holy men, gifted mystics of earnest faith and saintly lives
began to teach, and so impressively to inculcate their
doctrines, that the people, hitherto steeped in worldliness,
and neglectful of all religious obligations, turned a willing
ear, and came back in vast crowds to their spiritual alle-
giance. Pre-eminent amongst these great leaders I may
point out John Tauler, of Strasburg, Suso, Ruysbroeck,
and Henry de Kalcar.

The mention of the last name leads us directly to his
illustrious convert, a most remarkable man, the model of a
true reformer, some account of whose career and work
must necessarily preface our study of a Kempis and The
Imitation. This man was Gerard Groot, often surnamed
The Great. The most reliable account we have of his
life is from the pen of Thomas a Kempis. From this
memoir, from his Chronicle of Mount St. Agnes, and from
John Busch's Chronicle of Windesheim, I shall extract an
outline.

The venerable Gerard Groot, was born in Deventer, in
Holland, about the year of our Lord 1340. His parents
were people of wealth and good position, much honoured
and distinguished in their country ; and they watched with
tender solicitude over the education of their son. While
still a youth, but fifteen years old, Gerard was sent for
the completion of his education to the schools of Paris.
Whilst there, if he surpassed his comrades in luxury and
extravagance, he steadily kept in view the motive which led
him thither ; namely, to make rapid progress in his studies.
As yet the glory of God was not the main object of his
thoughts : he pursued the shadow of a great name, and
sought to gain renown amongst men. Very early, while but

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST > 43

in his eighteenth year, after the ordinary course of study,
genius helping the aspirations of his ambition, Gerard took
his degree of Master. Raised to this position, and com-
bining brilliant intellectual powers with a taste for the
pomps and vanities of the world, rich benefices were heaped
upon him, amongst others a Canonry at Aix-la-Chapelle,
another at Utrecht.

Behold him now fairly set forth on the broad path of
life, his heart as yet untouched by Heaven's voice. But a
great and merciful change awaited this gifted man — the
call to an exalted sanctity and heavenly mission. This
call and conversion came to pass through the instru-
mentality of Henry de Kalcar, already named, a saintly
Carthusian, who lived in the Monastery of Monichuisen,
near Arnheim. De Kalcar had known Gerard as a student,
and hearing of his absorption in worldliness, determined to
seek him out and reason with him. All this is told in
a Kempis's Life of Groot, together with his submission, and
long retreat at Monichuisen, where he gave himself up to
prayer, and the study of the Scriptures, and of the fathers
of the Church, especially St. Augustine and St. Bernard.

Later it was thought well that Gerard Groot should go
forth to preach the Gospel, which he did with extraordinary
eloquence and success, making converts by thousands.
After a time, owing to some misunderstanding with the
authorities, through no fault of his, he was interdicted
from preaching, and, yielding without a murmur, returned
to Deventer,

Out of evil good will often come. Debarred from
preaching in public, Gerard occupied himself in consoling
and exhorting communities and individuals, and devoted
special care to superintending the work of scholars engaged
in transcribing the Holy Scriptures and books of theology
and piety, an employment of great importance and emolu-
ment in those days before the invention of the art of
printing. Being settled once more in his native city of
Deventer, he drew around him a number of exemplary men,
both of the priesthood and laity, many of whom had been
converted by his eloquent preaching. Living together in

44 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

a species of community, they were soon joined by others,
of various rank and education — persons of ample means,
scholars, copyists, and even artisans of skill in different
handicrafts, all willingly renouncing the world and its
attractions to embrace a life of mortification and sanctity.
In order that holy women, aspiring to perfection, might
not be excluded from participation in the good work,
Gerard founded a convent adjoining his own house, where
those who entered followed a similar life, and carried out
various industries suited to their sex and capabilities.

It would appear that Florentius Radewyn, an illustrious
and beloved disciple of Gerard Groot, took a very active
part in the formation of this community, and was entrusted
from the beginning with its care and organization. In fact,
Busch tells us that it was Florentius who proposed to
Gerard the idea of forming into a community the clerics
and aspirants by whom they were surrounded. Groot was
at first averse to the project, fearing the opposition of the
mendicant orders ; but he finally yielded to the solicitations
of his disciple.

Under the direction of these two holy men, Gerard and
Florentius, was thus originated the society subsequently
known as ' The Congregation of Common Life,' and at
that time called ' The Modern Devotion.' The leading
idea which bound together these earnest seekers for
holiness, was an endeavour to return to the Christian life
of the apostolic age. All lived in community, in poverty,
chastity, and perfect obedience to their superiors ; all
worked for the common good, and contributed their
earnings to the general fund, spending any vacant time in
prayer, pious reading, works of charity, and almsgiving.
' And the multitude of believers had but one heart and one
soul. For neither was there any one needy among them,
for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them,
and brought the price of the things they had sold, and laid
it down before the feet of the Apostles.'

This ' Congregation of Common Life,' grew apace ; but
still one important detail remained to be accomplished.
Gerard knew that to make the institution a lasting success

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST ' 45

it would be necessary to place it under some definite
spiritual guidance. About this time he was led, mainly by
a visit he made to the celebrated mystic John Ruysbroeck,
at the Convent of the Canons Eegular of St. Augustine,
at Groenendaal in Brabant, to select that Order for the
spiritual direction of the new community. Returning to
Deventer he resumed his labours, in the intervals of which
he matured his plans concerning the new undertaking.
Many difficulties had to be overcome, many details to be
arranged and perfected, amidst all of which Florentius was
the ever-faithful helper and confidant.

Meanwhile God had ordained that the holy Master
should not see the fulfilment of his heart's desire, but that
he should be called to his reward in the midst of his work.
In those days the plague raged in Holland, and Gerard was
stricken, catching the fatal infection from a friend whom he
attended. He called around him his faithful disciples, spoke
words of consolation and advice, confiding them and the
' New Devotion ' to Florentius Radewyn. He then quietly
sank, and died on the 20th of August, 1384, the feast day of
his favourite St. Bernard.

Of Florentius Radewyn, his successor, it may be truly
said that he realized the words which our Divine Lord
addressed to His disciples, when He bade them follow Him
in the lowly path which leads to the eternal kingdom,
' Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I
am meek and humble of heart ; and you shall find rest to
your souls.' This holy man was born in the year 1350, at
Leyderdam, near Utrecht. His father was a man of high
reputation and independent means, and sent his son, while
quite a youth, to Prague, the seat of a far-famed university.
Gifted with rare intelligence, Florentius made rapid pro-
gress, and soon became distinguished in every branch of
science. Having completed his studies, and taken his
degree as Master, he returned to his native city. Pure of
heart, and irreproachable in his life, he entered the Church
and became a Canon of St, Peter's, at Utrecht. Ere long,
however, God mercifully withdrew him from the temptations
to which he was exposed, and inspiring him with an

46 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

ardent longing for holiness, led him to enter the ways of
perfection.

Gerard Groot preached constantly in the Church of our
Blessed Lady at Deventer, and Florentius often went to
hear him. The inspired words of the great apostle sank
deeply into his heart ; a burning desire to renounce the
world and devote himself entirely to God took possession of
his mind. From a Master of Science he became a follower
of Christ, saying with the Psalmist, ' 0 how great is the
multitude of Thy sweetness, 0 Lord, which Thou hast
hidden for them that fear Thee !' ' My sheep hear My
voice ; and I know them, and they follow Me.' Florentius
had been Canon of St. Peter's, at Utrecht. After a time he
resigned this prebend to become a simple curate at Deventer,
in order that he might be near to Gerard, in whose work
he was enlisted, and by whose teaching and example he
desired to profit.

It is impossible just now to follow in detail the career
of Florentius Radewyn. I must not, however, omit a
brief sketch of the crowning work of his life — the foun-
dation of the monastery of Wmdesheim. It will be
remembered that Gerard Groot, when on his death-bed,
exhorted his disciples to put their trust in God, to persevere
in their good work, to submit themselves entirely to the
guidance of Florentius, to place the newly-formed congre-
gation under the spiritual guidance of the Canons Eegular
of St. Augustine, and to build a monastery for its accommo-
dation. For some time this project was in contemplation,
preliminary steps were taken, various localities visited and
inspected ; but it was not until the year of our Lord 1386,
two years after the death of Gerard, that a commencement
was actually made. Meanwhile the approval of Florentius
Wevelichoven, Bishop of Utrecht, had been sought and
gained. The spot ultimately chosen was a fertile tract,
hitherto uncultivated, situated some twenty miles north of
Deventer, and about four miles to the south-east of Zwolle.
This valuable estate was the property of Berthold ten Have,
a rich youth of Zwolle, converted by Gerard Groot ; who
generously offered it as a site for the new institution. To

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 47

supplement his munificence Henry Wilsen, of Kampen,
and his brother James, men of wealth and position, added a
large endowment.

In 1386, under the direction of Florentius Radewyn, a
chosen band of six intrepid holy men set forth from De venter
to take possession, to commence the clearing of the woods,
and the building of the new monastery, which was destined
ere long to work such marvels in the vineyard of Christ,
and to extend so salutary an influence over Holland,
Belgium, and Germany. The locality, called Windesem
(nowWindesheim), was held in great reverence, and believed
to have been sanctified by the visits of angels. "Within a
marvellously short time the grand design of Gerard may be
said to have been accomplished. Windesheirn had fairly
set forth upon its magnificent career, and commenced to
spread around its beneficial influence. Fascinating though
the task would be, the needful brevity of this sketch obliges
me to omit the history of the rapid and stupendous growth
of th« new monastery, likewise all details of the sanctity
and devotedness of its inhabitants, the speed with which it
absorbed, as the mother house, all the Augustinian monas-
teries of the adjacent countries, until it numbered as its
affiliated children between seventy and eighty religious
houses of men and women. Anyone who desires to study
the subject will find ample details in Busch's Chronicle of
Witidesheim, Book I., from chapter xii. to xlvii. I shall
only touch upon one feature of this glorious institution —
namely, the character of the teaching of its spiritual
school. I deplore my incompetency for this task, which
I attempt solely because it is indispensable for the full
comprehension of much which I shall have to bring orward
later.

Let us recall, for a few moments, the thoughts which
filled the minds of Gerard Groot and Florentius Hadewyn
when they inaugurated the Congregation of Common Life.
In the first place, it was designed that its members should
endeavour, from their hearts, to return to the life of the early
Christians ; to such a life as the Apostles led when following
our Lord Jesus Christ on earth, and which they and their

48 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

companions carried out after His ascent into heaven. All
were to live in common, to work for the general good, to hold
their worldly possessions in community, and to spend their
leisure hours in prayer and works of charity. This grand
idea of returning to the apostolic life constituted the tie
which held together the earliest members of the little band
of scholars congregated under the guidance of Gerard and
Florentius. The necessities of those times, before the
invention of the art of printing, rendered the work of tran-
scribing books a leading occupation, and one both needful
and profitable. From it, moreover, arose a class of scholars
whose minds became saturated with the teaching of
those whose works they copied, and leavened with their
sanctity.

Keeping this in mind, a little study enables us to under-
stand the tone of the spiritual school of Windesheim, and to
trace its source and development. Groot was a man of
exceptional sanctity, ability, and erudition. Before he com-
menced his missionary life he had devoted himself, especially
during his retreat at Monichuisen, to the study of the Holy
Scriptures and of the fathers of the Church. In his famous
protest against the edict which suspended him from the right
to preach in public he tells us the sources of the doctrine he
taught. Not alone had he mastered the Sacred Word of
God, but he had also familiarized himself with the interpre-
tations of all the great teachers of the Church — Ambrose,
Gregory, Augustine, Jerome, Chrysostom, Dionysius, Bernard,
Bede, Isidore, Hugo, and Eichard. Their works, as he tells
us, were his chosen riches on earth.

Such was the inheritance of the school of Windes-
heim. It is certain that it never strove to promulgate
its teaching beyond its own circle, which was natural
enough for those whose motto lay in the words of
St. Augustine, ' Ama nesciri,' 'Love to be unknown;'
nevertheless it is impossible to study the works it has left
without observing that The Imitation is largely drawn,
word for word, and sentence for sentence, from its
writers, and that in truth the book found its cradle in
Windesheim. That it did so is the inevitable conviction

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 49

of all who have studied the subject profoundly without bias
or prejudice.

In my next communication I will give an outline of the
career of Thomas a Kempis, the Windesheimer towards
whom all existing evidence points clearly as the author of
The Imitation.

F. E. CRUISE, M.D.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS

IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL BECORD, like the Irish
JL family itself, is too generous to confine its attention to
matters that more immediately concern itself at home. Its
Catholic spirit has sympathies with all that interests the
Church wherever she is to be found. I have, accordingly,
been asked to say something 'about our own special work
here in England in regard to what is popularly known as
Anglicanism. Ireland has not, so far, been much troubled
with this particular product of the heretical spirit : but
there are signs that the difficulties vvith which we have to
contend here in the world of controversy, may yet emerge
even in that land of faith. The more naked forms of
Protestantism can hardly content those who are brought
into contact with the more cultured shapes of that Protean
spirit ; and Irish Catholics may yet have to deal with the
curious claims to Catholicity which have fascinated so many
on this side of the Channel.

The particular controversy of which I speak has its
advantages ; for perhaps wTe in England are led to lay more
stress on the dogmas connected with the Petrine preroga-
tives, and on the notes of the Church, than would otherwise
be natural ; and it is a gain to the Catholic mind to be
driven to survey our treasures, and note the glories of the
Bride cf Christ, which are but the reflection of His own.
At the same time, one must not forget, that to Ireland we
owe the very best treatise on this subject that we possess
from an English-speaking divine, in the great work of

VOL. I. D

50 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Dr. Murray, De Ecclesid. What I propose, then, in one or
two articles, is to give such plain and simple thoughts as
occur to one in considering the most recent phases of our
controversy, with those whom we will call High Anglicans.

The subject that occupied the attention of religious men
in England sixty years ago, was the ' Church.' After
more than half a century of debate and teaching of various
kinds on this subject, what is the upshot at this present
time ? It will be enough in this article to answer this
question.

In republishing his celebrated essay on the ' Catholicity
of the Anglican Church,' written when a Protestant, Cardinal
Newman prefixed a few foot-notes, and a long invaluable
note at the end. Amongst these foot-notes occurs one which
the present writer noticed only after having written on the
same subject, as the result of many years of anxious thought.1
Newman is speaking of the Anglican contention, that all
that is necessary for the unity of the Church is that hidden
oneness which is secured by the union of believers with the
one Lord of all through the use of sacraments. Barrow,
whom he quotes, does not disallow the duty of what he
calls ' political union ' amongst Churches, but he disavows
its necessity. Newman, writing as an Anglican, suggests,
that ' brotherly ' union would be a fitter expression than
'political;' but, as a Catholic, he adds these words in a
note : ' Is not " visible " a better word still? and is not the
proposition maintained in the text simply this, " The unity of
the Church is an invisible unity?" But if that is allowed,
will it be possible long to deny the proposition, " The Church
is invisible"?'2

Cardinal Newman has here laid his finger on the real
blot in the High Anglican theory. He is not alone in this ;
for Dr. Murray, of Maynooth, in his invaluable treatise, to
which I have alluded, pointed out, that Dr. Pusey's theory
of the Church amounts to a denial of her visibility just as

1 Anglican Fallacies, p. 100. Catholic Truth Society, 21. Westminster Bridge-
road, London, S.E. (1896). 8rf.

8 Etsays Critical and Theological, vol. ii., p. 34.

51

certainly as does the theory of the Calvinists in Germany,
and the Methodists amongst ourselves. It is, in a word,
radically Protestant. It escapes the appearance of Pro-
testantism by its insistence on visibility as a property of the
Church, but it is in appearance only, that it differs from
other non-Catholic theories.

In fact, Anglicanism, as such, never does rise to the full
conception of an actually visible Church. The Church, to
be a Church at -all, must bear some sort of authority.
But as long as she is divided (as in the Anglican conception)
into at least three separate conflicting portions, she not
only cannot speak with authority, but she cannot speak
at all. Now this might be, conceivably, the case for some
short period. But the Anglican argument contemplates
such a persistent dumbness as covers three centuries and
a-half, and an indefinite future. The Church, on this sup-
position, has simply ceased to be visible. For, of course,
we are speaking here not of her material visibility, which
consists in her being composed of visible men, and having
visible sacraments, but of her formal visibility. Being one
society, according to the Catholic hypothesis, instituted for
the purposes of religion, she must be able to fulfil those
purposes ; one main purpose being that of teaching. We
must be able to see where she is, to hear her voice, to learn
her decrees. This, on the highest Anglican presupposition,
is impossible. And it has been rendered ten-fold more
inconceivable, that she should ever be able to do this, on the
Anglican hypothesis, since the recent Bull on Anglican Orders.

The darling idea of the High Anglican has always been
that some day there will be a General Council comprised of
Roman, Greek, and Anglican bishops, in which many matters
of present disagreement will be finally settled. Although this
may not be a prominent feature of Anglican teaching, it is a
fundamental one, kept in reserve for the inquirer who con-
templates the idea of perpetual separation with horror. In
July last, the Church Quarterly Review, an Anglican organ of
the highest importance, said : —

It seems to us within the range of possibility that the Pope
may recognise Anglican Orders, as the orders of the Greek Church

52 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

have always been recognised as good. Though they have never
been acknowledged by Kome, yet they have never been formally
condemned. If ever any such ratification [sic] of the English
Ordinal should be achieved, it would be a gracious act, and worthy
of the large-mindedness of Leo XIII., to invite the patriarchs of
the East and the prelates of the English Church to an amicable
discussion on the present state of the divisions of Christendom,
and the best means of affecting their remedy. l

One cannot help pausing a moment to notice how little
our Anglican friends are in the habit of confronting facts.
Imagine the present Archbishop of York and the late amiable
prelate of Canterbury, meeting as bishops, with the patriarchs
of the East and the Holy Father. The Archbishop of York
would come to the meeting with the unfortunate stigma of
having contracted a second marriage after he was made bishop,
an offence that could hardly be condoned by patriarchs of the
East, who disallow all marriage after receiving Holy Orders ;
the late Archbishop of Canterbury would have appeared with
the Lincoln judgment on his shoulders, in which he had ruled
that breaking the bread before consecration (a thing not
done in the ancient liturgies, nor anywhere in the Catholic
Church) must be done in sight of the people, as being an
essential part of the original institution. And they would
represent each of them prelates who include the Bishops of
Liverpool and Lincoln. A very earnest young man, looking
forward to the ministry of the Church of England, said to us
the other day: 'If we had a really Catholic Archbishop, he
would begin by excommunicating all the bishops.' And such
is the feeling of many a young man in the same position at this
hour. But on the theory we are considering the archbishops
would have to represent all these bishops. ' Next imagine the
legitimacy of the invocation of the saints coming on to the
tapis, and the Eastern patriarchs discovering that no single
bishop in England allows to be taught here what every one of
themselves holds to be absolutely a matter of faith.

But to return. No one can now reasonably suppose that
any Anglican bishop will ever sit in council at Eome as a
bishop. The dream of the future Council could only now

1 Church Quartet ly H.wiew, July 1890, p. 470.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 53

be entertained by a mind incapable of grasping facts. The
Bull ApostoliccB CurcK has so far changed the situation.

But this means that, on the high Anglican theory, the
Church can never speak — in other words, the Church is not
visible. She herself can never appear in action. She is
nowhere to be found. The ' Eoman ' Church is to be
found, the Greek Church is to be found, and (we will suppose)
the English Church is to be found ; but where is the Church
to be found? In what sense is there an actual Church in
existence ? Is it in the sense that there is something under-
lying these three portions which puts itself forth in their
various and conflicting voices ? No Anglican seems willing
to face this question. Or, if he does, it is by stating sub-
stantially the latter theory. . But this is simply the doctrine
of an invisible Church.

The difficulty pursues an Anglican into his answer to
the question, Where is the Church of England herself to
be found ? We know, of course, that there is a religious
body recognised by the law, as the Church of England ; we
know that, in some sense or other, the Sovereign of England,
as represented by the judicial ' Committee of the Privy
Council, is its final Court of Appeal ; and that the Sovereign,
as represented by the Prime Minister for the time being, fills
the legal sees, and so far determines the character of her
teaching ; and that every bishop in his oath of homage,
professes to receive his spiritualities as well as his tempora-
lities from the Sovereign. We know that every clergyman
of the Church of England promises to use the Book of
Common Prayer, and gives his assent to the Thirty-nine
Articles of Religion. All this we know ; but then, if the
whole episcopate teaches that such and such a doctrine is
enshrined in the Book of Common Prayer, our high Anglican
friends tell us that that is not necessarily the teaching of
the Church of England. If we ask, where then shall we
find the Church of England? we shall obtain no intelligible
answer. So that, in some sense, the Church of England
herself is not visible. She cannot be apprehended. She is
yet to come. That which has been taught in her name, for
more than three hundred years, is not hers : it is not she

54 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

that taught : she is in futuro. She is not represented by
convocation ; for convocation is apt to go wrong. She is
not represented _, by the bishops; for they would all be ex-
communicated by a Catholic archbishop. She is not repre-
sented by the majority of the clergymen ; for they do not
profess to offer the Holy Sacrifice, do not administer the
Sacrament of Penance, and are lamentable failures, so we
are told, in theology. Then, where is she?

It is, indeed, a serious question that we are asking ; for
only one answer can be given by anyone who cares to face
the facts of the case. So far as she exists at all, she is on
the down-grade. But in this sense : she, as one living
spiritual entity, can hardly be said to exist ; but if we take
the trend of the majority of her prominent and teaching
members, it is steadily undermining all belief in dogma.
It could not, indeed, be otherwise, if we consider the
developments that have been taking place within her which
may be described thus : — In the awakening of religious
activity which marked the early part of this century, the
supernatural recovery of man's estate before God absorbed
the souls of a number of English Christians ; but in one
point only, viz., the Atonement wrought on the Cross. It
was something that hearts should be warmed at all with a
responsive love in gratitude for that act of infinite love.
But the character of these good men's faith was deficient in
its form. It relied on ' the Bible, and the Bible only.' The
religious movement at Oxford added something to the
material of faith in the shape of 'tradition.' They saw
the necessity of belonging to a visible Church, and of the
existence of a traditional teaching within that Church. The
logical sequence of this advance in the way of belief would
have been the apprehension of a perpetual guardian of Holy
Scripture and tradition. But to apprehend this was to
hover on the borders of the Catholic and Roman Church.
There came, therefore, a parting of the ways, with the
result that some entered the Catholic Church, and others
went on 'as best they could.' It is with these latter and
their successors that we have to do at this moment.

It is, of course, evident to a Catholic that neither the

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 55

Scriptures nor tradition could be safe apart from their
guardianship by the Church. It is an oft-told tale how the
Scriptures have fared in the hands of those who succeeded
the ' Tractarians ' at Oxford. It is not so often considered
how their attitude towards tradition has followed a natural
law of development downwards. This is the peculiar feature
of High Anglicanism at this hour, and it deserves more than
a passing notice.

Having let the formal visibility of the Church slip from
their minds, content with a merely material visibility — that
is to say, having subsided into acquiescing in the idea ot
the Church as a body characterized by an external organiza-
tion consisting of separate fragments of supposed similar
make, with a visible side to the ordinances of religion, an
episcopate, or rather not so much ' an episcopate ' as a
crowd of bishops (to use the expression of the Holy Father
on this subject) who are not ' one episcopate, of which a
part is held by each so as to unite into one solid whole,' to
use St. Cyprian's words1 — having thus allowed the idea of
the Church's visibility to be depraved, as something that
cannot be seen in action, it was. natural that our friends
should go on to depreciate, and deprave, and disfigure
tradition itself. This is seen in such writings as those of
Canon Bright, the Kev. F. W. Puller, Canon Gore, and
others who stand out just now as champions of Anglicanism
in England. We will give instances from each.

Father Sydney Smith has lately reminded Canon Bright,
that, considering the admission, which in deference to history
must perforce be made by Anglicans, that the Petriue
episcopate has been the tradition of the Church from at
least the middle of the third century, it rests with Anglicans
to prove that it was not coeval with the actual beginnings
of Christianity. So many centuries of prescription in its
favour throw the onus probandi on the side of those who
deny the primeval existence of the tradition, even from a
merely natural point of view. But if we regard the Church

1 For this interpretation of St. Cyprian's words — Episcopatus unus, ciij'tcs a
smgulis in solidum pars tenetur, see Franzelin, De Ecclesia, p. 156.

56 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

as a supernatural entity — if we realize her continuous
existence as the home of the Spirit of Truth and the
appointed Teacher of the nations from generation to genera-
tion, the position taken up by Father Sydney Smith would
seem to be absolutely impregnable. To say that we will
not believe in the Petrine episcopate, although it has been
the traditional teaching of so many centuries, unless it can
be shown to be plainly written in the comparatively scanty
records of the first two centuries — still more, to require
such demonstration as would be sufficient apart from the
known tradition of century after century since those first
two — what is this but to fail to appreciate the logical
consequences of saying, ' I believe in the Holy Ghost, the
Holy Catholic Church.' All that ought to be asked for in
the way of proof, is that there should be nothing distinctly
and decisively contradicting the tradition of ages. Expres-
sions and phrases in the earliest centuries are to be explained,
where they can be explained, by the subsequent age-long
tradition. But to this Canon Bright objects, and thus
furnishes an instance of how little value is set on tradition
by those who do not believe in the formal visibility of the
Church.

Next, Mr. Puller has to his own satisfaction accounted
for the growth of the idea of a Petrine episcopate. It sprang
from the Clementine Romance, which in some earlier form,
that has to be presupposed, reached Rome, which also has
to be supposed, in time to influence the orthodox Church of
Rome, and induced her to take up with a pleasant tale in
her own honour, which she effectually palmed off on the
whole Christian world, saints and doctors of the Church, and
opponents from the anti-christian camp as well. What can
be the conception of the Church in the mind of one who
could argue thus? What value can be set on the ascertained
tradition of ages ? It must not, however, be forgotten by a
writer of the I. E. RECOED, that the chief promoter of this
queer solution of the difficulty as it must ever be to an
Anglican, of the continuous tradition of the Petrine epis-
copate, from the third century onwards, hails from Trinity
College, Dublin.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 57

We -turn now to Canon Gore. In his work called Disser-
tations on subjects connected with the Incarnation, he quite
frankly sets aside the stream of fathers which makes against
his heresy. ' Any writer who cares for Catholic sentiment
and traditional reverence . . . must approach this subject with
great unwillingness.' As Dr. Gildea observes : ' Canon
Gore approaches the subject without the least sign of un-
willingness. But then, he certainly does not care for
Catholic sentiment. Whether he cares for 'traditional
reverence ' or not we are not prepared to say ; that he does
not care for the reverence due to tradition, his disserta-
tion only too clearly proves.' l Canon Gore calmly admits
further on that ' the great bulk of the language of ecclesias-
tical writers is, it is true, against us.'2 But this does not
much trouble Canon Gore, for 'in the special subject of
this inquiry we do not see them [the fathers] at their best.'3

Nor does Canon Gore stand alone. Those who know
Oxford well are aware that he has succeeded in imparting his
tone of thought to quite a number of the rising generation.
He has a disciple in his successor in the principalship of
Pusey House, at Oxford, in Mr. -Ottley, who has recently
written two volumes on the Incarnation, which may be fairly
described as a defiance of tradition. He revises saints and
doctors, such as Atbanasius, Cyril, and Leo.

Now what this all means, is that those who in the person
of their forerunners began with higher views of the Church,
who were therefore called High Churchmen, are ending in a
perpetual depreciation of tradition, which was precisely the
element annexed to their faith by the early Tractarians. The
theory has run its way, and has led those who followed it to
its logical conclusion into the Catholic Church, whilst it has
precipitated those who refused its logical consequence into
the most unbridled exercise of private judgment. Beginning
with grasping the idea of the sacraments, as the extension
of the Incarnation, they are ending with the most serious

1 Dublin Review, April, 1896, by W. Gildea, D.D., p. 318.

2 Diss. p. 202.

3 Page 214.

58 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

assaults on the Incarnation itself. Writing under no appre-
hension of a living authority to guide and control their
idiosyncrasies, they may end anywhere. The Church is not,
to them, seriously visible. She cannot come down upon
them, nor speak to them.

To be continued. I^UKE RlVINGTON, M.A.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE AMERICAN

REPUBLIC

relations of the Catholic Church and the Republic of
J_ the United States are not unfrequently misunderstood
or misinterpreted, as well by Americans themselves as by
Europeans. Not a few still retain the opinion that Rome,
to quote the words of Scott, ' damns each free-born deed
and thought,' that the doctrines of the Catholic Church are
utterly irreconcilable with the theories of civil and religious
liberty so ardently advocated by Americans to-day; while
others appear to think that the liberty which American
Catholics enjoy has a pernicious effect upon their faith,
making them indocile to Church authority and indifferent
in religious matters. The Catholic bishops of this country
ought surely to be competent to speak on the question : no
body of men in the country can be more competent. In
the pastoral letter addressed to the clergy and laity of their
charge by the American bishops assembled in the third
Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884), we find the following : —

We think we can claim to be acquainted both with the
laws, institutions, and spirit of the Catholic Church, and wiih
the laws, institutions, and spirit of our country ; and we empha-
tically declare that there is no antagonism between them. A
Catholic finds himself at home in the United States, for the
influence of his Church has constantly been exercised in behalf
of individual rights and popular liberties. And the right-minded
American nowhere finds himself more at home than in the
Catholic Church, for nowhere else can he breathe more freely
that atmosphere of Divine truth which alone can make him free.

We repudiate with equal earnestness the assertion that we

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC 59

need to lay aside any of our devotedness to our Church to be
true Americans, and the insinuation that we need to abate any of
our love for our country's principles and institutions, to be faithful
Catholics. To argue that the Catholic Church is hostile to our great
Eepublic, because she teaches that ' there is no power but from
God ; ' because, therefore, back of the events which led to the
formation of the Eepublic, she sees the Providence of God leading
to that issue, and back of our country's laws the authority of God
as their sanction — this is evidently so illogical and contradictory
an accusation, that we are astonished to hear it advanced by
persons of ordinary intelligence.

No less illogical would be the notion that there is aught in
the free spirit of our American institutions incompatible with
perfect docility to the Church of Christ. The spirit of American
freedom is not one of anarchy and license. It essentially involves
love of order, respect for rightful authority, and obedience to just
laws. There is nothing in the character of the most liberty-loving
American which could hinder his reverential submission to the
Divine authority of our Lord, or to the like authority delegated
by Him to His Apostles and His Church. Nor is there in the
world more devoted adherents of the Catholic Church, the See of
Peter, and the Vicar of Christ than the Catholics of the United
States.

A brief examination of the leading principles of the
American constitution will clearly show that no conflict
exists between them and the teachings of the Catholic
Church. The American Eepublic has declared itself in-
competent to enact laws controlling matters purely religious,
and has pledged itself to protect the Church in the exercise
of her spiritual freedom. The rights of the Church here are
not concessions from the State, but are recognised by the
State as rights prior to and above itself, which it is bound
to respect and protect. This is different from the red
republicanism of Europe, which advocates separation of
Church and State through indifference to or hatred of all
religion.

If we attentively consider [says Balmes 1] the points of
difference between the revolution of the United States and that
of France, we shall find that one of the principal points of differ-
ence consists in this, that the American revolution was essentially
democratic, that of France essentially impious. In the manifestos

European Civilization, p. 389.

60 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

by which the former was inaugurated, the name of God, of
Providence is everywhere seen ; the men engaged in the perilous
enterprise of shaking off the yoke of Great Britain, far from
blaspheming the Almighty, invoke His assistance, convinced that
the cause of independence was the cause of reason and of justice.
The French began by deifying the leaders of irreligion, over-
throwing altars, watering with the blood of priests the temples,
the streets, and the scaffolds.

This is not an irreligious nation. The fact that our
political charter presupposes God and Christianity ; that our
Government makes Sunday a legal day of rest ; that sessions
of state legislature and congress are opened with prayer,
and chaplains appointed at public expense for congress, the
army, the navy and state institutions ; that our presidents
and governors of states in official documents recognise the
dependence of the nation on God and the duty of gratitude
to Him ; that our courts decide questions of Church discip-
line and property that come before them according to the
charter and constitution of the Church in litigation ; that
Church property is exempt from taxation ; is sufficient proof
that, though Church and State are separate in this country,
they are not unfriendly or antagonistic to each other.

We do not believe, of course, that the separation of the
Church and State is the ideal to be aimed at in modern
society, and that the policy, to use the common phrase, of
' a Free Church in a Free State,' is one deserving of appli-
cation in all countries. That the union of Church and State
in past ages resulted in injury to both, especially to the
former, we are ready to admit ; but that it necessarily has
such an effect, we must deny. The best things may be
abused, and that which is good remains good in spite of
abuse. Moreover, we must not forget that if some evils
arose out of the union of Church and State in the past,
incalculable benefits have also resulted from that union, and
that it has been mainly instrumental in producing the
peace, the prosperity, and the civilization which made the
Christendom whereof we are heirs. At any rate, it is, as a
principle, indisputable that the two powers in an ideal State
should work in harmony and mutually assist each other,
and that an organic and mutual understanding should exist

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC 61

between them. We are so apt to forget this principle in
the United States, that Leo XIII. deems it necessary to
remind us of it. In his encyclical letter to 'the bishops of
this country (January, 1895), his Holiness, after speaking of
the -wonderful progress of the Church here and of the
freedom which she enjoys, says : —

Sed quamquam haec vera sunt, tamen error tollendus, ne
quis hinc sequi existimet, petendum ab America exemplum
optirai Ecclesiae Status : aut universe licere vel expedire, rei
civilis reique sacrae distractas esse dissociatasque, more aineri-
cano, rationes. Quod enim incolumis apud vos res est catholica,
quod prosper! s etiam auctibus crescit, id omnino tribuendum
fecunditati, qua divinitus pollet Ecclesia, quaeque si nullus
adversetur, si nulla res impedimento sit, se sponte effert atque
effundit; longe tamen uberiores editura fructus, si, praeter liber-
tatem, gratia legum fruatur patricinioque publicae potestatis.

Church and State, no doubt, are distinct organisms,
having different ends and separate functions ; but it by no
means follows that they cannot be mutually helpful to each
other, or that God intended that they should be separate.
When all the citizens of the State are of the same religious
persuasion, the union of Church and State can be complete ;
but when the people of a country differ in religious belief,
and there are many different denominations, as with us in
the United States, the relations of Church and State are
necessarily limited, and a complete union between them
is impossible. The best that cau be done, perhaps, in such
circumstances is what has been done in the United States.
The founders of this republic had to unify into a nation
independent communities having established churches, and
that unification would have been impossible if the Govern-
ment recognised any one Church. The necessities of the
situation compelled the Government to acknowledge the
equality of all the Churches before the law, to abolish all
religious tests as a qualification to office, and to guarantee
to all denominations the fullest liberty. Moreover, the prin-
ciple underlying the separation of Church and State here,
namely, the incompetency of the State in religious matters,
is a principle which the Catholic Church has in all ages
maintained. The system, then, of almost total separation

62 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

of Church and State which we have in this country is a
necessary consequence of the condition of our people, and is
in no way opposed to the principles of Catholic theology ;
and to say that Catholics here are striving to bring about
such a union of Church and State as existed in the middle
ages, is a calumny. But, the anti-Catholic fanatics say, it is
possible that the civil and ecclesiastical powers may some-
times clash; the line of demarcation between secular and
religious matters is not so definitely drawn as to preclude
the possibility of a collision ; and in such an emergency
Catholics maintain that the Church is supreme, and that it
is her right to decide what comes under her jurisdiction, and
what does not. This, they pretend to believe, is a menace
to free institutions. That the Church has the exclusive right
of deciding what things come under her jurisdiction, is
unquestionable. She and she alone has the authority to
teach what is the extent of the spiritual rights divinely
committed to her ; and, consequently s if she decides that
a political measure encroaches on the domain of religion,
she is to be obeyed rather than the political powers.
The principle involved in this teaching no Christian, at
least, can deny, for every Christian must believe that duty
to conscience and to God is the supreme rule of judgment
and of action. Nor is it so difficult to draw the line of
demarcation between the two powers as some of our anti-
Catholic friends pretend to believe. The rights of either
power can be deduced from the end to which either tends
and from the ordinations of divine positive law. ' What-
soever in human things,' says Leo XIII. in his encyclical
Immortale Dei, is in any manner sacred, whatsoever
belongs to the salvation of souls and the worship of God, is
under the authority and rule of the Church. But all things
else, being included within the civil and political order,
are rightly subject to the civil authority.' Sacred things,
therefore, belong to the authority of the Church ; v.g., the
preaching and teaching of the Christian faith, the adminis-
tration and reception of the sacraments, the direction of
public devotions, the preparation and discipline of the clergy,
the administration of church funds, the erection of church

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC 63

edifices, &c. Temporal affairs, such as commerce, agricul-
ture, taxation, form of government, &c., are subject to civil
authority.

There are some matters, however, pertaining in part to
the civil authority and in part to the ecclesiastical authority,
such as education and matrimony, about which there may
be danger of conflict between the two powers. Take the
education question. The Catholic Church does not deny to
the State the right of providing for instruction and of
directing schools, as required by its own legitimate end and
the welfare of society ; but she also claims for herself the
right of directing schools, as far as her end demands, and
therefore the right of watching over the faith and morals of
Catholic youth, and of seeing that their faith or morals be
not corrupted by the teaching given. The State may erect
schools, appoint teachers, prescribe methods, but it must
exercise these rights in due subordination to the prior and
higher rights of family and Church. Catholics believe that
the educational system of a Christian State ought to be
Christian ; that it is a great grievance to have to support
schools to which they cannot conscientiously send their
children ; and that the rights of parents, of Church, and of
State, would be best safeguarded by a denominational
system of education. They believe that such a system
would best harmonize with the spirit of our American
constitution, which forbids all unnecessary meddling with
private and parental rights ; and they know, moreover, that
it is the only means by which our people can be made good
Christians and good citizens. In advocating it, therefore,
they believe that they are acting for the best interests of
this republic, and not a few non-Catholics share the same
view.

. Another question about which there may be some danger
of clashing between Church and State in America is the
question of matrimony. Catholic teaching grants to the
State, as the guardian of public decency, the right to forbid
such marriages as are opposed to the natural law, and also
the right to control certain external forms or accessories, in
order to insure the protection of individual rights ; but the

64 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Catholic Church denies to the State jurisdiction over the
substantial features of marriage. When the State, there-
fore, enacts divorce laws annulling the marriage contract so
that each of the contracting parties may marry again during
the lifetime of the other, it usurps an authority which does
not belong to it. The divorce laws existing in this country
are a disgrace to a civilized people ; and the Catholic Church
in combating them and in endeavouring to uphold the
indissolubility of the marriage contract deserves well of
every lover of this nation. The position which Catholics
take with regard to these two questions, education and
matrimony, commends itself to all religious, serious-minded
men, and far from being indicative of disloyalty to the
country, is the strongest proof of their love for the republic
and their desire to perpetuate its free institutions.

That Catholic teaching also harmonizes with the American
idea of political and civil liberty, no one who is acquainted
with the one and the other can for a moment doubt. The
fundamental articles of the American political creed, as
embodied in the Declaration of Independence, are these : —
' All men are created equal ; they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights ; and among "these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness : to secure
these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed.' These
are Catholic principles, proclaimed in all ages by th6 Catholic
Church. Man by the fall of Adam did not lose his original
faculties. He did not lose his reason or his free will, and
consequently he did not lose the natural rights which flow
from these gifts — the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. All men are equal in regard to these rights,
and therefore no man has the natural right to govern another
man. The authority to govern comes, under God, from the
consent of the governed. The Protestant doctrine of the
total depravity of human nature and the loss of free will, as
a result of Adam's fall, is a denial of these principles, and
naturally enough led the early Eeformers to exclude unre-
generate man from all part in the organization of the State
and all share in the rights and privileges of citizenship.

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC 65

' The proclamation of man's natural rights,' says Father
Hecker, ' involved the overthrow of the whole theological
structure built by the reform theologians upon the corner-
stone of man's total depravity. The Puritans in signing
the Declaration of Independence signed their own death
warrant. ' l

There can be little doubt but the tyranny and intolerance
which disgraced our colonial period, was in great measure
due to the tenets of Puritanism ; while, on the other hand,
the civil and religious liberty which prevailed in the Catholic
colony of Maryland was a natural outgrowth of Catholic
teaching. This is only the history of European nations
repeating itself in the New World. True liberty goes hand
in hand with Catholicism. 'The Catholic Church,' says
Lecky, ' laid the very foundations of modern civilization.
In the transition from slavery to serfdom, and in the transi-
tion from serfdom to liberty, she was the most zealous,
the most unwearied, and the most efficient agent.' 2 The
Catholic Church to-day is as ardent in advocating popular
rights and civil and political liberty as she has been in the
ages gone by. And why should it not be so? The subjection
of the Church and the decline of her influence has been at
all times in direct proportion to the progress of despotism.

I proclaim, without fear of contradiction [says Montalembertl
that it is to liberty that we are indebted for the wonderful and
unexpected success of Catholic interests. Yes, the struggle has
everywhere been profitable to the Church, everywhere from the
tribune of Westminster, of the Palais-Bourbon, and of the Luxem-
burg, unto the prison of the Archbishops of Cologne and Turin ;
and liberty alone renders contention possible. Yes, political
liberty has been the safeguard and the instrument of Catholic
regeneration in Europe. This regeneration has nowhere been
witnessed, except where it has been provoked or preceded by
political liberty. »

Popular forms of government have not been less beneficial
to the Church in the New World than they have proved in
the Old ; and for this reason, if for no other, Catholics are

1 The church and the Age, p. 7-L. '

2 History of Rationalism, vol. ii., p. 209.

3 Catholic Interests (1852 , p. 46.
VOL. I.

66 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

the most ardent advocates and strongest supporters of the
free institutions of this country.

But, we are asked, how can we reconcile the teaching of
the Catholic Church with that freedom of conscience which
is the great boast of Americans, and for which our Protestant
friends in this country profess so much admiration. To
answer the question, we must know what is meant by freedom
of conscience : —

When men advocate the rights of conscience [says Cardinal
Newman] they in no sense mean the rights of the Creator, nor
the duty to Him, in thought and deed, of the creature, but the
right of thinking, speaking, writing, and acting according to
their judgment or their humour, without any thought of God at
all ... In this age, with a large portion of the public, it is the
very right and freedom of conscience to dispense with conscience,
to ignore a Lawgiver and Judge, to be independent of unseen
obligations. It becomes a license to take up any or no religion,
to take up this or that, and let it go again ; to go to church, to
go to chapel, to boast of being above all religions, and to be an
impartial critic of each of them. Conscience is a stern monitor ;
but in this century it has been superseded by a counterfeit which
the eighteen centuries prior to it never heard of, and could not
have mistaken for it if they had. It is the right of self-will.1

If by freedom of conscience is understood ' the right of
self- will,' the right ' to think, speak, write, and act accord-
ing to one's judgment or humour, without any thought of
God,' we do not attempt to reconcile the teachings of the
Church with such a theory. But if by freedom of conscience
is meant, not this counterfeit, so well described by the
Cardinal, but the freedom to obey that voice of God, in the
nature and heart of man, which speaks in the soul as an
eternal witness both of the existence and of the law of God;
then, indeed, there are no more sincere advocates of freedom
of conscience than Catholics. It is the teaching of the
Church that conscience is the voice of God, and is, there-
fore, supreme, and that it is never lawful to act against one's
conscience.

As a consequence of this, Catholics must believe in
toleration in religious matters. It seems impossible, how-

1 Reply to Gladstone's Vaticanism, p. 76.

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC 67

ever, for some non-Catholic writers to grasp the obvious
distinction between religious or theological toleration and
civil or political toleration, and to understand how it is that
Catholics, while religiously intolerant, can be, at the same
time, politically tolerant. Civil or political toleration is the
permission conceded by the State to its subjects to profess
the religion of their choice ; religious or theological tolera-
tion, presupposing that all religions are equally acceptable
to God, is the permission granted by Almighty God to all
men to profess any religion they please, or none at all.
Catholics are, and must be, theologically intolerant. There
is a strong tendency in this country to what is called
Liberalism or Indifferentism ; that is, to maintain that a
man has the same facility of salvation in any of the
Churches, a tendency to deny the objective certainty of
truth, to make religion a matter of opinion. Now, Catholics
hold the existence of the objective truth of religion ; they
believe that God has prescribed a supernatural religion, and
has promulgated it with sufficient motives of credibility ;
and that all are bound, under pain of deadly sin, to accept
it when it is made clearly manifest to their minds and
hearts. To be indifferent, or religiously ' tolerant,' is to
believe that all religions are true ; in other words, to believe
that contradictory things are true at the same time.

Nor is it impossible to hold the real or objective truth
of religion and, at the same time, to be politically tolerant.
The teaching of the Church is, that as man by his own free
will fell from grace, so by his own free will must he return
to grace : —

Faith [says Cardinal Manning] is an act of the will ; and
to force men to profess what they do not believe is contrary to the
law of God, and to generate faith by force is morally impossible.
We cannot, indeed, co-operate by any direct action to uphold
what we believe to be erroneous, and we would that all men
fully believed the truth ; but a forced faith is a hypocrisy hateful
to God and man. Moreover, in our shattered state of religious
belief and worship, there is no way of solid civil peace but in
leaving all men free in the amplest liberty of faith.

No doubt the civil power in the middle ages punished,
and justly punished, open infidelity, heresy, and schism,

68 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

because then they were not only crimes against God, but
also crimes against society, forbidden by the public law ;
bat now, when that political order has passed away, and
these sins are no longer violations of a public law, or crimes
against society, the civil government has no right to punish
them. That the action of the civil government in these
ages was justifiable, no one who studies the history of the
period, will deny : —

In the barbaric ages [says Brownson ] which followed the
destruction of the Western Koman Empire, the Church had a
double mission to perform, and was obliged to add to her spiritual
functions the greater part of the functions of civil society itself.
. . . The lay society was dissolved by the ruin of the empire and
of the civilized populations, and was no longer adequate to the
management of secular affairs in accordance with civilized order.
The Church was obliged to add to her mission of evangelizer,
which is her mission of all times and places, the temporary and
accidental mission of civilizer of the nations . . . Having the
chief part of the work of civil society to perform, it became
absolutely necessary that she should have a civil and political
existence and authority — that she should be incorporated into
the State as an integral element of the civil constitution, and have
her worship, without which she could have as little social as
religious influence recognised as the law of the land as well as
the law of God . . . Infidelity, heresy, and schism, which were
as directly in opposition to her mission of civilizing the nations
as to her mission of evangelizing them, were then directly and
proximately crimes against society, and as such were justly
punishable by the public authorities.

These times have passed, and the circumstances that
made necessary the incorporation of the Church with the
State, no longer exist; and, consequently, infidelity, heresy,
and schism, though sins against God, are no longer con-
sidered crimes against society ; and, therefore, so long as
their adherents demean themselves peaceably, and discharge
their ordinary social obligations, Catholic teaching says that
they ought to be tolerated by the civil government, and
left to God to answer for their sin.

We believe then that we may reasonably conclude that
the declaration of the American bishops in the pastoral

1 Brownson, Works, vol. x., p. 221.

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC C9

referred to at the beginning — that perfect harmony exists
between the laws, institutions, and spirit of the Catholic
Church, and the laws, institutions, and spirit of the United
States — is founded upon fact, and patent to all who
impartially examine both organizations.

The further declaration of the bishops — that there is
nothing in the free spirit of our American institutions to
injure our Catholicity — is equally evident. When this
republic was founded, one hundred and twenty years ago, no
one could discover any sign which would lead him to believe
that the Catholic Church was to have any future in the
country. Catholics were few and scattered, constituting
only one in a hundred of the population, for the most part
poor, hated, and despised by their Protestant neighbours.
Other denominations had a far better start in this free
country : they had greater wealth, superior education ; every
natural advantage was on their side. Yet, what do we find
to-day? The religious outlook of a century ago has entirely
changed. Protestantism has ceased to have any hold on the
masses of the American people. ' Let us look at England,
Europe, and America,' says Mr. Mallock, ' and consider the
condition of the entire Protestant world. Religion, it is
true, we shall still find in it ; but it is religion from which
not only the supernatural element is disappearing, but in
which the natural element is fast becoming nebulous.' Such
a substitute for the religion of Christ can never satisfy
the cravings of the human heart for God and truth.

Poor wanderers, ye are sore distrest
To find the path which Christ has blest,

Tracked by His saintly throng ;
Each claims to trust his own weak will,
Blind idol ! so ye languish still.

All wranglers, and all wrong.

Reason has condemned Protestantism, because religion
is not a system of opinions resting upon man's private
judgment, but is a body of revealed truths, adapted and
necessary to the full development and perfection of man's
intelligence and heart, and depending upon an unerring and
divine authority. Protestantism never has and never will

70 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

make any headway in America. Here, as in Europe, it
is fast leading men into Agnosticism and infidelity. A
practical and independent people like the Americans will
not retain a purely speculative religion — a religion without
faith, without sacrifice, without sacraments, without autho-
rity, without a single bond of unity. On the other hand,
the Catholic Church has progressed in spite of many
difficulties — the inadequate supply of priests and churches
for the demands of an overwhelming immigration, the want
of Catholic education, the contempt for illiterate Catholic
and their creed, the poverty of our people. That progress
is a proof not only of the inherent strength and vitality of
the Church, but also of the fact that wherever she finds
a fair field and no favour, she can prosper and grow
strong, and that there is nothing in the spirit of free insti-
tutions incompatible with perfect docility to the Church of
Christ.

But, some people are heard to say, the faith, the
generosity, the docility of the people who made the Catholic
Church what it is in America to-day, are mostly traditional
race-traits inherent in those people who came to us from holy
Ireland— from Germany, from France, from Italy, and cannot
be expected to last for more than one or two generations.
Will the American Catholics of the next generation, or the
next century be as good, as generous, as faithful, as their
Irish, German, and French forefathers? There is good
reason to believe that they will. The descendants of the
Irish may not retain that spirit of loyalty and fidelity
which is characteristic of the Irish at home ; the children
of the French may not retain that perfundum ingenium
Gallorum, that enthusiastic zeal, which is the leading trait
of the good French Catholic in his own land ; the Germans
of the next generation may not have that steadfastness to
what they believe to be true, as the German of to-day has.
It would be unreasonable to expect that, when these people
become thoroughly American, they will retain these cha-
racteristics. They will get their quasi-religious environment
at home ; and if those who have the spiritual guidance of
those people are true to their sacred trust, there is no reason

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC 71

why the American Catholics of the next generation, or the
next century will not be as good as their ancestors were.

No doubt there are dangers menacing the faith of our
people, some peculiar to this country, some common to all
nations. The godless schools in which many of our Catholic
children are instructed; the worship of the 'almighty dollar,'
which, they tell us, is fast becoming the only religion of the
American ; the crowding together of our Catholic people in
large cities where the atmosphere they breathe is poison to
body and soul ; the religious indifference, not to say down-
right materialism, which is around us, are serious dangers
which those charged with the care of souls must avert if the
faith is to be perpetuated here. That the Catholic Church
will prove equal to the undertaking, no one who studies her
past history, and is acquainted with the abundant means of
sanctification which she employs, can for a moment doubt.
Now the Church is well organized in the country. We are
well supplied with priests ; we have churches, and hospitals,
and orphanages ; our parochial schools are increasing in
number, and becoming more efficient every year ; we have
an ample equipment of Catholic colleges ; and, to crown all,
we have a Catholic university in the national capital. This
organization, of course, is not all-sufficient. It is only a
means to an end. The end of religion is the union of men's
hearts with God — personal sanctification. The Kingdom
of God is within. Without personal sanctification our
numbers, or wealth, or stately edifices are of little avail.
Still organization is indispensable ; the lack of it in years
gone by was the cause of many losses to the Church ; its
existence to-day is the surest guarantee of the Church's
prosperity in the future.

We are not among the sanguine few who look for the
conversion of the United States, as a nation, to the Catholic
Church ; still, we believe with that distinguished convert,
Father Hecker, that the affirmation of any one truth,
logically followed out, leads to the knowledge and the
affirmation of all truth : —

The American republic [he says] began afresh in the last
century by the declaration of certain evident truths of reason.

72 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

The law of its progression consists in tracing these truths out to
their logical connection with all other truths, and finally coming
to the knowledge of all truth, both in the natural and super-
natural order, ending in the affirmation of universal truth, and
the union with the source of all truth — God. The dominant
tendency of the American people is towards the law of the
positive sequence of truth. The course of Europe was that of
negation ; the course of the United States was that of affirmation.
The first was destructive, the second wTas constructive. The one
was degrading, the other was elevating. That bred dissension, this
created union. Europe, under the lead of the religious revolution
of the sixteenth century, turned its back to Catholicity, and
entered upon the downward road that ends in death ; the republic
of the United States, in affirming man's natural rights, started
in the eighteenth century with its face to Catholicity, and is in
the ascending way of life to God.1

Some of the ablest men and women from every station
in life, and from every profession in this country, have
become converts to the Church, and have found that she
alone affords them an opportunity of becoming Christians
without violating the laws of their reason, and without
stifling the dictates of their conscience. The number of
such conversions may be comparatively small, but it is
increasing, surely and steadily. If the increase is to
continue, if the Catholic Church is to succeed in Christian-
izing the American people as she has Christianized all
European countries, it will be through the agency of an
enlightened and zealous clergy. If those who are entrusted
with the spiritual guidance of the people in this country,
where the struggle between the Church and her enemies is
mostly intellectual, have that broad education which will
give them the right to speak and to teach with authority ;
if they are truly zealous, in sympathy with the people and
with their surroundings, taking an active and intelligent
interest in all movements for the social as well as the spiritual
advancement of the people, the future of Catholicity in the
United States will be a glorious one.

The prosperity of the Catholic Church, in this republic
is also the surest guarantee for the preservation of its

1 The Church and the Age, p. 97.

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND AMERICAN REPUBLIC 73

liberty, and its advancement along the lines of the highest
and purest civilization. A republic can stand only as it
rests upon the virtues of the people ; and the Catholic
Church in this country to-day is the only force mighty
enough to stem the tide of moral corruption which threatens
to inundate the land.

Here is our answer [says Dr. Brown son] to those who tell
us Catholicity is incompatible with free institutions. We tell
them that they cannot maintain free institutions without it. It
is not a free government that' makes a free people, but a free
people that makes a free government ; and we know no freedom
but that wherewith the Son makes free.1

P. GRIFFY.

1 Brownson's Works, vol. x., p. 35.

I 74 ]

IRotes anb (Queries

THEOLOGY

MATRIMONIAL IMPEDIMENT OP FEAR— IS FEAR AN IM-
PEDIMENT OF THE NATURAL LAW— CIVIL DIRIMENT
IMPEDIMENTS

EEV. DEAE SIR, — In the wilds of Australia one man ap-
proaches another, and declares he will blow out his brains with a
pistol, if he does not deliver up his money at once. The other
replies : 'Do not do that, and I will marry your daughter.' Is
the marriage valid ?

P.P.

This marriage is invalid. We do not know what particular
difficulty presents itself to our correspondent's mind. If
we did, it may. have been possible to dispose of it briefly.
But the indefiniteness of the difficulty proposed, makes it
necessary to devote our available space to the more obvious
points that may be raised in such a case.

The solution of this question under its various aspects
involves the discussion of several questions which have
divided the theologians. We cannot settle what they have
left undecided. But, at the request of our correspondent,
we give our opinion, for what it is worth.

In the case made, it is assumed that matrimonial
consent is given (non ficte) under the influence of fear, which
in the technical knowledge of the theologians, is grave and
unjust, but which does not take away the use of reason.

Now, abstracting for the moment from other difficulties,
it may appear that one of the conditions necessary to con-
stitute fear, a diriment impediment, is wanting. For, we
find, that to invalidate marriage, fear must be — (1) grams ;
(2) injuste incussus ; (3) incussus in ordine ad matrimonium
extorquendum. The last condition may seem to be absent :
the threat of violence was used to extort money, not a
consent of marriage.

75

Again, has fear coming from a third person, as in this
case, the effect of invalidating marriage, just as if it came
from one of the contracting parties ?

And finally, as our correspondent travelled so far for
his hypothesis, he may seem desirous of raising the much-
disputed question, quo jure matrimonium irritat aut irri-
tare potest metus. If the natural law itself makes fear a
diriment impediment, then, of course, this marriage, ceteris
ponendis, should be pronounced invalid, even though its
validity is untouched by any positive law, civil or ecclesi-
astical. If the impediment arises from human positive law
only, then the further question presents itself, Can this
impediment be set up, in the case of unbaptized persons,
by the State, so that the impediment may exist even in the
case of those not subject to the Church ; or can the impedi-
ment arise from ecclesiastical law only ?

The first point raised is easily disposed of. It is,
indeed, the generally accepted teaching of theologians, that
fear does not invalidate marriage, unless it be used with a
view to extorting matrimonial consent. It is not, however,
necessary that this end should have been intended ab initio.
Fear, originally used, from some other motive— to extort
money, v.g. — may be afterwards continued so as to force a
consent to marriage. This is what Lehmkuhl means when
he says : ' Metus injuste debet esse incussus aut saltern
protractus in ordine ad extorquendum matrimonium.'1 This
is precisely what happens in the case proposed. At first,
a threat is used to extort money ; then, when the promise of
marriage with the highwayman's daughter is made, and
accepted, the threat is still continued, in order to secure the
fulfilment of that promise. The threat now takes the form,
' marry my daughter, else I must have your money or your
life." Such a threat, from the moment the promise of
marriage with the daughter is accepted, is in ordine
matrimonium extorquendum. So far, therefore, there is no
reason to think that the conditions requisite for the diriment
impediment of fear are not verified.

1 ii. 736.

76 THEIIRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

As regards the second point, it will be sufficient to quote
Feije, to prove that fear, coming from a third party, has the
same effect as if it came from one of the parties to the
marriage : —

Invalidum est matrimonium . . . sive metus incussus ab ipso
contrahente sive a tertio, aut absque aut ex mandate ejus illius;
sive demum tertius ille utilitatern ex eo matrimonio referat sive
non referat. T

Thirdly, we inquired, does the impediment of fear arise
from the natural law ? If the answer be in the affirmative,
the marriage in question is invalid independently of all
positive legislation, civil and ecclesiastical.

Theologians are much divided on this subject. Sanchez,
Lugo, Laymann, and Feije, may be quoted for the negative
opinion ; on the other hand, St. Alphonsus, Scotus, Molina,
Diana, Gobat, Marc, Aertnys, Konings, and Ballerini,
contend that the impediment (certainly, or more probably)
comes from the natural law.

We are disposed to adopt this second opinion as more
probable. For the natural law will not invest with irre-
vocable efficacy a consent extorted by grave unjust fear.
Regarding contracts generally, theologians, therefore, teach
that a contract entered into through grave unjust fear, is
either void ab initio or voidable ad nutum metum patientis.
But matrimony once validly contracted is indissoluble.
Therefore, the natural law will not invest with efficacy a
matrimonial consent extorted by grave fear ; in other words,
such a consent is jure naturae invalid ab initio.

Feije endeavours to evade the force of this argument
by saying, that if this reasoning were sound, marriage
contracted ex dolo would be invalid jure naturae. For, he
contends, there is a perfect parity between fear and fraud in
the case, and the necessity for invalidating the marriage is
the same in both cases — ad injuriam reparandam. But he
seems to overlook the fact, that the Church herself, on his
own theory, makes the very distinction that he is at pains
to ignore. For the Church, if not the natural law, has

1N. 135. Conf. Lugo, DeJus et Jure, xxii. , sec. vol., n. 172.

NOTES AND QUERIES 77

made fear a diriment impediment ; she has not constituted
fraud an impediment. Surely, the Church has not made
this distinction where she discovered no disparity. Feije,
further, contends that there is no necessity for any
remedy — invalidity or any other — for injury inflicted.
For the person who suffers fear is not bound to give a
true consent. It would seem to us that this argument over-
turns the common teaching of theologians — Feije himself
among them — that bilateral contracts made ex metu may
be rescinded. If his argument prove that marriage con-
tracted ex metu is not invalid because, as he urges, a person
might have given a fictitious consent, it should prove that a
contract of sale entered into ex metu cannot be rescinded
because the same remedy was available. We are, therefore,
inclined to the opinion that fear is an impediment jure
naturae, and that persons are, consequently, affected by
it independently of all positive legislation.

We now come to the last point raised above. Can
the State set up diriment impediments ? The State can,
of course, legislate regarding the civil effects of marriage.
But can the civil law touch the- validity of the marriage
contract ? The State has no power to make impediments
affecting the validity of marriage between baptized per-
sons. That power belongs to the Church alone. Has
the State, however, a right to constitute civil impedi-
ments affecting the validity of marriage between unbaptized
persons? If we believe, with Feije, for example, that
fear is not an impediment of the natural law, can
the civil authority make it an impediment to the
valid marriage of unbaptized persons? According to
English law, a marriage is, we believe, invalid, if force
has been used in obtaining the marriage. Is this civil
impediment capable of invalidating the marriage of two
unbaptized persons — two Quakers — not merely before the
civil law, but before God ? In the case our correspondent
makes, the marriage in question may be a non-christian
marriage, and unaffected by the ecclesiastical impediment
of fear. Then, if there be no impediment jure naturae, it
remains to ask, whether the marriage may be invalidated in

78 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

virtue of a provision of civil law — if such there be — binding
in the case contemplated.

Here, again, the theologians are divided. Sanchez, and
the vast majority of the older theologians, and with them
many recent writers — among them, Marc, Ballerini,
Palmieri, Hammerstein — concede this power to the State.
Many, especially among the moderns, with Perrone, Feije,
Haine, Aertnys, deny the State the right to make diriment
impediments.

Apart altogether from the authority of theologians, and
the practice of the Church in this matter, it would appear
clear to us that the State has jurisdiction over the marriage
contracts of those not subject to the Church by baptism.
For, it seems evident, in the first place, that jure naturae
there should be some public authority having jurisdiction
over the marriage contract — some authority to determine
and define the limits and conditions of the impediments of
the natural law, and, where the circumstances require it, to
create new impediments. Therefore, antecedently to the
establishment of the Church, and the promulgation of the
G'ospel, the State, being (for all those who had not, with
the Jews, received a special revelation) the only existing
public authority, must have had jurisdiction over the mar-
riage contract. To say, with some theologians, that
marriage, even of infidels, is a res sacra, and, therefore, is
outside the jurisdiction of the civil power, is to misinterpret
the functions of the State. In the natural order, would the
State not be bound to provide for, and regulate external
public worship ? Before the promulgation of the Gospel,
the head of the State not merely had the right, but, per se,
he was bound to promote external public worship. And
surely public worship is res sacra.

Now, however, the Gospel is everywhere promulgated ;
the Church is everywhere the divinely constituted guardian
of the matrimonial contract. Has the State, therefore, lost
all matrimonial jurisdiction ? It has lost all jurisdiction
over Christian marriages; this is certain. But the State
still retains, we think, jurisdiction over non-Christian
marriage — the marriage of the unbaptized, namely. For the

NOTES AND QUERIES 79

State is the only public authority to which the unbaptized
are subject. Nor is there any sufficient reason for thinking
that the promulgation of the Gospel has limited the civil
power in relation to them. Even in regard to the marriages
of the faithful, the sole reason why they are no longer
subject to the State is, that in this case the marriage
contract is elevated to the dignity of a sacrament ; and the
Church is by divine appointment, the sole custodian of the
sacraments. This is evidently the mind of Pius VI., when
he writes : —

Dogma est fidei nt matrimonium quod ante adventum Christi
nihil aliud erat, nisi indissolubilis quidam contractus, illud post
Christi adventum evaserit unum ex septem legis evangelicae
sacramentis . . . Hinc fit, ut ad solam Ecclesiam, cui tota de
sacramentis est cura concredita, jus omne ac potestas pertineat,
suam assignandi formam huic contractui, ad sublimiorem
sacramenti naturam evecto . . . l

In the mind of the Pontiff, the fact that marriage among
the faithful, is a sacrament, is the reason why Christian
marriage, though a contract, is removed from the category
of mere contracts, where it would be subject to the civil
power, and is placed under the sole jurisdiction of the Church ;
obviously, this reason does not touch non-christian ma,r-
riages. They, therefore, remain subject to the civil authority.

But, whatever may be thought of these arguments, we
can, fortunately, appeal to the authority of Propaganda
and of the Holy Office in support of our view. Many of
our readers will have seen it denied that there is any
warrant for saying that the Roman Congregations have
ever sanctioned or acted on the opinion allowing the State
matrimonial jurisdiction.2 But the rather recent publication
of the Collectanea Congr. de Prop. Fide seems to settle this
point. We find there the clearest evidence that the validity
of civil diriment impediments has been more than once
allowed by the Roman Congregations: In view of the
statements and opinions of many recent writers, it will be

1 Vid apud Palmier! De Matrim, p. 265. Romae, 1880.
8 See Feije, n. 69.

80 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

interesting to print the following questions with the replies
of the Congregations : —

S. C. de Prop. Fid. — C. P. pro Sin. 24 Junii, 1820 — Vic.
Ap. Tunk. Occid. — Vir infidelis qui cum muliere infideli matri-
monium inierat, omissa quadam caerimonia, cujus omissio juxta
Tunkini regestas censetur rnatrimonii impedimentum dirimens,
ab ea muliere discessifc et aliam uxorem christianam duxit ;
christianam ipse fidem amplectens, baptismum petit. Teneturne
primam ab eo derelictam conjugem interpellare, an et ipsa Christi
fidem profiteri et cum eo redire velit, an saltern pacifice cum eo,
absque Creatoris contumelia cohabitare consentiat? Si Christiana
fieri, aut saltern cum praefato viro pacifice cohabitare consentiat
ilia mulier, tenetur ne ad illam vedire? Si cum priore hac
conjuge, facta Christiana, reconcilietur, et stet inter arnbos verum
ac legitiinum matrimonium, debetne ab iis renovari consensus?
Uno verbo, impedimentum dirimens a Principe infidele sancitum,
aut apud gentem infidelem antiqua et communi invectum con-
suetunine, redditne irrita et invalida matrimonia inter viros et
mulieres infideles cum tali impedimento contracta?

E. esse nullum primum et secundum matrimonium ; non esse
hinc locum interpellation!, sed esse locum novo matrimonio,
servatis, servandis, et detur instructio.

The Congregation clearly declares this marriage invali-
dated by the civil diriment impediment. At the request of
the Congregation, an instruction on this case was prepared
by Rev. D. A. (afterwards Cardinal) Frezza, from which we
extract the following, as bearing out what we have above
laid down regarding the nature and extent of the civil
power : —

Ex quo enim Christus Dominus matrimonium, ... ad
sacramenti dignitatem erexit, saeculares Principes nullam
amplius in illud ejusque vinculum potestatem retinent . . .
Sed cum res sit de infidelium conjugio ratio Sacramenti, quae
christianorum matrimonium Ecclesiae ordinationi subjecit, plane
cessat . . . Sequitur hinc Principes saeculares, sive fideles,
sive infideles, plenissimam potestatem retinere in matrimonia
subditorum infidelium, ut scilicet, appositis impedimentis, .quae
juri naturali ac divino adversa non sint, eadem non solum quod
ad civiles effectus sed etiam quod ad conjugale vinculum penitus
rescindant.

We stated that the force of civil diriment impediments
had been more than once admitted by the Roman Congre-

NOTES AND QUERIES 81

gations. We venture to add here, therefore, a reply of the
Holy Office to bear out our assertion : —

S. C. S. officii 20 Sept. 1854, Vic. Ap. Jim-Nan. In istis
missionibus saepe evenit ut minor fratris sui majoris defunct!
uxorem ducat et postea convertatur. Difficillime separari possunt
propter prolem jam susceptam vel periculum ne avertantur a fide.
Ipsorum matrimorum invalidum esse videtur, utpote omnino a
lege civile prohibitum, etiam sub poena mortis. Verum post
baptismum ad convalidandum eorum matrimonium satis ne est
ut tantummodo suum removent consensum ?

E. Praevia dispensatione disparitatis cultus et primi affini-
tatis gradus per facultates quibus missionarii gaudent, consensus
esse renovandum. Quod si superventura mala deprehendantur,
relinquendos in bona fide.

There was question of a marriage between two infidels—
the marriage of a man with his deceased brother's wife
They were not subject to the ecclesiastical law, regarding
affinity. Affinity in gradu collateral! is not an impediment
of the natural law. The only question, therefore, was
whether the civil law, which declared this affinity a diriment
impediment, thereby invalidated the marriage. The reply is
in effect, that the marriage was invalid, owing to the civil
impediment of affinity; that dispensations in disparitas
cultus, and in affinity having been granted, matrimonial
consent was to be renewed.

In view of these authentic documents, we adhere>
then, to the opinion of those, who grant the State juris-
diction over the marriages of infidels. This opinion is in
harmony with the teaching and practice of the Roman
authorities.

And to recapitulate, we say — list) that fear, originally used
for another motive, but afterwards ad matrimonium extor-
quendum, invalidates marriage; (2nd) that positis ponendis,
fear excited by a third party, invalidates marriage, as well as
if it were to come from a contracting party; (3rd) that,
in our opinion, fear, is an impediment juris naturalis ;
(4th) that the State has power to set up diriment impediments
to the marriage of infidels — the impediment of fear, for
instance, if it be not an impediment juris naturalis.

VOL. I. F

82 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

We can now reply very briefly to our correspondent's
question. In the case he makes, the marriage is certainly
invalid, jure ecclesiastico, if there be a question of Chris-
tians; if there be question of marriage inter infideles it
is, we think, invalid if contracted with a civil diriment
impediment ; finally, if the case is covered by no positive
law, civil or ecclesiastical, the marriage is still invalidated,
in our opinion, by the natural law itself.

D. MANNIX.

LITURGY

THE VOTIVE MASS OF THE SACRED HEART ON THE FIRST
FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

THE WASHING OF PURIFICATORS, CORPORALS, &c.

EEV. DEAR Sra, — An answer to the two following questions in
the next number of the I. E. EECORD will much oblige : —

1. The feast of the Sacred Heart was raised by our Holy
Father Pope Leo XIII., by Brief dated 28th June, 1889, from
the rite of a greater double to that of a double of the first class.
By the same Brief his Holiness granted the following privileges,
which do not appear to be generally known ; viz. — ' In those
churches and oratories where on the first Friday of each month,
in the morning, a special exercise of piety is practised in honour
of the Sacred Heart, with the approbation of the Ordinary, the
Holy Father has granted that to these exercises may be joined
the celebration of the Votive Mass of t.he Sacred Heart, provided
that a feast of our Lord, a double of the first class, or a privileged
feria, vigil, or octave, does not fall on the same day.' I have
not read the Latin text of the Brief, but the above quotation
is taken from an English version. Now the question I wish to
ask is this : — Does this privilege of saying a Votive Mass apply
to only one Mass, or when several priests celebrate in the same
church, may each one say the Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart
on the first Friday of the month, provided 'a special exercise
of piety is practised in honour of the Sacred Heart' in that
church?

NOTES AND QUERIES 83

2. How many times should purificators, corporals, and palls
be washed, in the first instance by a priest ? In some churches
this washing is given twice, in others three times. May this be
done by either a deacon or sub-deacon ?

SACERDOS.

1. To our correspondent's first question we might reply,
in^ the form consecrated by the usage of the Bom an
Congregations, Affirmative adprimam partem ; Negative ad
secundam. In other words, only one Votive Mass of the
Sacred Heart can be celebrated, in the circumstances
contemplated by our correspondent, on any day that
excludes the celebration of an ordinary Votive or Requiem
Mass. The terms on which the privilege was conceded
make this sufficiently clear. The following is the original
Latin text of the concession : —

In eis vero ecclesiis et oratoriis ubi feria vi, quae prima in
unoquoque mense occurrit, peouliaria exercitia pietatis in honorem
Divini Cordis, approbante loci Ordinario, mane peragentur .;
Beatissimus Pater indulsit, ut hisce exercitis addi valeat Missa
votiva de Sacro Corde Jesu; dummodo in illam diem non incidat,
aliquod Festum Domini, aut duplex primi classis, vel Feria,
Vigilia, Octava ex privilegiatis, de cetero servatis rubricis.

The words we have italicized seem to show that the
motive of this concession was, that the Mass said in connec-
tion with the devotions in honour of the Sacred Heart, on
the first Friday of the month,' should correspond with these
devotions, and should be, as it were, their complement. The
decree says : hisce exercitis addi valeat Missa votiva, and
these words leave no room for doubt. We think that it is
only the Mass said in connection with the devotions that
enjoys the privileges mentioned in the decree. Moreover,
this Mass, even when celebrated as a private or Low Mass,
possesses all the solemnity as to rite, &c., which a Solemn
Votive Mass possesses ; and we are certain the Congrega-
tion of Kites never intended to permit the celebration of
several Solemn Votive Masses (or their equivalents) in the
same church on the same day.

84 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

2. A deacon or subdeacon, as well as a priest, may wash
corporals, purificators, &c. It is not customary in this
country, so far as we know, for anyone not in Holy Orders
to be allowed to perform this office ; but, according to
Wapelhorst l and others, there is elsewhere a custom per-
mitting this washing to be done by clerics in Minor Orders.
All that our present information justifies us in saying about
this custom is, that it is not condemned by any rubric or
decree. It would seem that it is only the first washing that
need necessarily be done by one in Holy Orders, or by a
cleric, if we adopt the custom mentioned by Wapelhorst.
The other washings may be committed to a lay person,
though the altar linens, while washing, should in all cases
be kept separate from other linens. It is, however, becoming
that these linens should be washed a second time and a
third time by the same person who is permitted to wash
them the first time, and it is imperative that the water used
for the first washing should be poured into the sacrariuin.

COMMEMORATIONS IN THE VOTIVE MASS OF THE S ACHED

HEART

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Will you kindly say what commemorations,
if any, are to be made in the Mass of the Sacred Heart, which
is now allowed in several churches and oratories on the first
Friday of each month. Are we to make a commemoration of
the displaced feast, of the feria in Lent and Advent, of the
octave, &c.

SACEKDOS.

We replied to a question similar to the above in the
October number of the I. E. EECOED for 1892. This
votive Mass of the Sacred Heart, as has been stated in the
preceding reply, possesses the characteristics of a solemn
votive Mass. Hence no commemoration whatsoever is
made in it, nor is the Oratio imperatu said. The Gloria
and Credo are both said, and the last Gospel is always the
beginning of the Gospel of St. John.

lNo. 10,4.

LITURGICAL NOTES 85

THE RENEWAL OF BELIGIOUS VOWS

In the November number of the I. E. KECORD for 1896,
we published a question on the above subject recently
addressed to the Congregation of Eites, together with
the reply of the Congregation. In the question reference
was made to a general decree on the same subject, issued
in 1894. At the request of several correspondents, who are
anxious to study for themselves the terms of the decree
of 1894, we here print it. The decree requires no com-
mentary ; we may, however, call attention to the difference
in the ceremonial prescribed for the first emission of the
vows, and for their annual renewal.

DECRETUM GENERALS.

Non semel a S. Kituum Congregatione exquisitum fuit:
Utrum, et quomodo solemnis votorum professio, aut eorum
renovatio, quae in plerisque religiosis tarn virorum quam mulie-
rurn Congregationibus locum habet, intra missam peragi valeat.
Porro in peculiaribus casibus non una eademque fuit responsionis
ratio, quin unquarn Generale Decretum hoc de re editum fuerit.
Quapropter, ad omnem ambiguitatem de medio tollendam, et
uniformitatem inducendam, eadem Sacra Kituum Congregatio,
referente subscripto Cardinal! eidem Praefecto, cunctis mature
perpensis, atque iis praesertim, quae in Bulla sa. me. Gregorii
Papae XIII. ' Quanto fructuosius,' data kalendis Februarii,
1853, pro approbatione Constitutionum Societatis Jesu, hac de re
continentur, in Ordinariis Comitiis subsignata die ad Vaticanum
habitis, sequentem methodum, servari posse constituit: 'Celebrans
profitentium vota excepturus, sumpto Ssmo. Eucharistiae Sacra-
mento, absoluta confessione, ac verbis quae ante fidelium
Communionem dici solent, Sacram Hostiam manu tenens, ad
profitentes sese convertet : hi vero singuli alta voce professionem
suam legent, ac postquam quisque legerit, statim Ssmum.
Eucharistae Sacramentum sumet. In renovatione autem voto-
rum, Celebrans ad altare conversus exspectet donee renovantes
votorum formulam protulerint ; qui, nisi pauci sint, omnes simul,
uno praeeunte formulam renovationis recitabunt, ac postea ex
ordine Ssmum. Corpus Domini accipient. Haec tamen methodus,
cum recepta fuerit, in respectivis Congregationum Constitu-
tionibus minime apponenda est. Non obstantibus quibuscumque
particularibus Decretis in contrarium facientibus, quae prorsus
revocata atque abrogata censeantur.' Die 14 Augusti, 1894.

Facta autem So. D. N. Leoni Papae XIII. per me infra-

86 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

scriptum Cardinalem Praefectum de praemissis relatione, idem
Sanctissimus Dominus Noster senfcentiam Sacrae Congregationis
approbavit, ratam habuit, ac Decreta in contrarium facientia per
praesens penitus abrogata esse declaravit. Die 27 iisdem mense
et anno.

ffc C. CARD. ALOISI-MA.SELLA, S.E.C., Praefectus.
L. % S. ALOISIUS TRIPEPI, Secretarius.

D. O'LOAN.

CORRESPONDENCE

ON A LESSON IN THE MAYNOOTH CATECHISM

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Your kind invitation in the November
number of the I. E. RECORD for 1896, soliciting opinions on
that very important subject, the Catechism, tempts me to tres-
pass on your space. Allow me to express to His Grace the
Archbishop of Dublin, and the Diocesan Committee, rny sincere
thankfulness for the work they are doing in bringing out a new
Catechism. I am one of those who have been sighing for such
a work these many years, and I hail its approaching completion
with the highest satisfaction.

But I fear many will desire no change, and, wedded to old
ideas, and influenced by old memories, will not accept the new
Catechism as the boon to catechists which I, though I have not
seen it, confidently expect it to be. To show its need, and thus
in a small way to assist indirectly in the ultimate object which
His Grace and the Committee have in view, I propose to subject
to examination — of no deep and searching kind — a lesson in
the Catechism ordered by the National Synod of Maynooth.
I select the chapter on the Church, as it treats of a subject of
the utmost importance, and affords evidences — I do not say
special ones — that bear upon my purpose.

Now, it will be admitted by all, that a proportion of parts
should be observed in all catechisms. Since a catechetical primer
cannot be a full course of instruction, and cannot embrace every
point of doctrine, the proportionate importance of subjects should
be well considered. Those doctrines which affect but little for
good or evil the spiritual life of the people, should hold a sub-
ordinate position. On the contrary, those doctrines which are

CORRESPONDENCE B7

bound up with vital religious principles and needs, which are the
foundation of faith and morals, or their safeguards, those should
receive the space, prominence, and attention due to their
importance. Again — another side of the same principle — those
tenets of Catholicity which are exposed to the frequent attacks
of the enemy, with danger to the virtue of the people, should be
surrounded with double walls of question and answer.

Now, I fear, I must say that in the Maynooth Catechism this
principle is not always observed — is certainly not observed in this
chapter. No one will deny that the divine authority of the
Church is the most fundamental of doctrines after the existence
of God. Shake it, and you shake Christendom as with an earth-
quake. Yet it receives not much more space, and not as much
attention, as the sin of Adam. To the latter subject twelve
rather long questions are devoted, while only twenty are given to
the Church and the Primacy of the Pope. And who will say that
that is the ratio of the respective importance of these subjects ?

But besides this unjustly curt treatment of the subject the
lesson has other defects of a more serious kind. One, that he
who runs can read, is the absence of all reference to our Eule of
Faith. One would think that order and logical necessity would
demand an explanation of it in the. very beginning of a chapter
on the Church : it is not explained, nor even referred to. And
we know how fond Protestants are of boasting of their Eule — •
' the Bible, and the Bible alone.' We know, too, they often
attack Catholics^-with no inconsiderable amount of success — on
the strength of their principle. Would it not have been well to
have pricked this bubble of Protestantism, shown its hollo wness,
and thus saved many Catholics from shame and injury to their
faith ? It could have been done with the waste of a very few
words. It would have been enough- to give but two reasons
intelligible to any ordinary mind — the difficulty of understanding
the Sacred Scriptures (2 Peter iii. 16), and, on account of the
scarcity of Bibles,' the impossibility of the multitude making use
of such a rule for fifteen centuries after the Ascension. But this
fundamental weakness of Western heresies is left untouched, and
the opportunity is missed of solidly establishing the faith in the
mind of the child.

But to pass on to the examination of the text. The answer
to the second question — ' The true Church is the Holy Catholic
Church ' — is an assumption, premature and unproved, and would

88

be in its place only towards the end of the lesson. The answer
to the third question, founded on this assumption, is largely
useless in its scope and feeble in its argument. The necessity
of faith, charity, and good works, is here proved, but it could
have been omitted, and the chapter would gain in consecution of
thought and clearness of arrangement. That the true Church
has four marks, we must admit on the authority of the author.
To establish this criterion of truth and error no appeal is made
to Scripture or Creed, and the four marks themselves are
applied to the Catholic Church in a manner that is scarcely
theologically sound. The external unity is attempted to be
proved by an internal quality — ' in being one body animated by
one spirit, and one fold under one head and shepherd, Jesus
Christ, who is over all the Church." This is confusing the marks
of the Church and her qualities.

But the sanctity of the Church fares badly indeed. As
explained in this lesson it fails to a considerable extent as a
mark. All communions, as Perrone points out, claim sanctity
as regards their founder, their doctrine, their sacraments, and
many of their members. They have some show of reason for
their claim, too, we must admit, when we consider the many
cases in which hypocrisy puts on the garb of holiness, or
respectability is taken for virtue, or love c^f self looks like the
love of God. Hence we can appeal with much effect to the
sanctity of the Church as a mark of her divinity only when it
becomes heroic. Special stress should, therefore, be laid upon
the practice of the evangelical counsels as found in Sacred
Scripture. ' A fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos ;' and if so,
no more distinctive mark of the true Church could be given
than the fruit, ripe and luscious, of poverty, chastity, and obe-
dience borne by the Catholic Church. And further, why not
mention " the charismata, and especially the gift of miracles,
giving Scripture reference and the doctrine of the Church regard-
ing it ? The power is so distinctively Catholic — a feature which
the denial of miracles by Protestants heightens — is so character-
istic of the apostolic age as represented in the New Testament, is
so pregnant with meaning, that by itself it looks like a fifth mark.
It is certainly of such importance as an evidence of truth that it
should not be overlooked. For these reasons it is to be feared
that the mark of sanctity, as explained in the Catechism, is lost
upon those outside of the Church, and brings conviction to the
mind of those within largely through their own prejudices.

CORRESPONDENCE 89

The exposition of the Catholicity of the Church is better, but
is not distinguished for correctness of theology, Towards the
end a quality of the Church — the indefectibility — is dragged in
to serve as a mark, and a prophecy is indulged in, piously enough,
but uselessly. That the Church ' shall last to the end of time '
is a prediction which can be proved fulfilled only at the end of
the world, and can be of no service to us of this day.

The apostolicity has scarcely had justice done it. The
derivation of the Orders and the mission of the Church through
the unbroken line of her pastors is omitted. And why not make
mention here — or in connection with the primacy — of that great
chain of two hundred and fifty-seven Popes, connecting by link
after link the Church of to-day with the Church of Peter and
the other Apostles ? It would have been just the thing to catch
the mind of a child, and take it from the region of abstract
thought — a difficulty with the young—into a real flesh-and-blood
notion. Here too, as in the last, the exposition ends in prophecy
and declamation : the Church is apostolical ' because it never
ceased, and never will cease, to teach their [the Apostles']
doctrine.'

But I will end here. Without examining the chapter on the
Primacy of the Pope — which is not. perfection— enough has been
said to show that this lesson is a failure and unworthy of its
subject. In saying this, I trust I am free from exaggeration.
Its omissions of fundamental principles, its assumptions in the
answers, its want of orderly treatment and correct theology, its
neglect to bring out the weakness of heresy and the divine
characteristics of Catholicity, are so plain on the face of it, tha^
I cannot help saying so. Those who do not agree with me in all
that has been said will agree with me at least in this : that there
is room, if not need, for a new Catechism.

I remain, dear Mr. Editor,

Faithfully yours,

V.

[ 90

DOCUMENTS

DECREE GRANTING TO THE DIOCESE OF COBK THE FEAST
OP THE HOLY FAMILY FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER
EPIPHANY, WITH THE PRIVILEGE OF TRANSFERRING
IT AS OFTEN AS IT IS IMPEDED ON THIS SUNDAY

BEATISSIMB PATER

Alphonsus O'Callaghan Ord. Praed. Episcopus Corcagiensis
humiliter supplicat privilegium pro clero universe tarn secular!
quam regular!, Dioecesis Corcagiensis celebrandi quotannis
Festum S. Familiae Nazare.nae, Dominica III. post Epiphaniam
sub ritu duplicis majoris cum officio et Missa nuper approbatis,
facta potestate idem festum transferendi in primam subse-
quentem diem liberam juxta rubricam, quoties enunciata
Dominica occurreret.

Ex Audientia Ssmi. habita, die 24 Novembris, 1896.

Ssmus. Dominus Noster Leo, Divinia Providentia P.P. XIII.,
referente me infrascripto, S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide
Secretario, benigne adnuere dignatus est pro gratia in omnibus
juxta preces : Contrariis quibuscumque non obstantibus.

Datum Eomae ex Aedibus ejusdem S. Congregationis de
Propaganda Fide, Die et Anno uti supra.

A. ABCHIEP. LAKISSEN, Seer.

DECREE GRANTING TO THE DIOCESE OF KILDARE AND
LEIGHLIN ALL THE INDULGENCES AND PRIVILEGES OF
THE 'QUARANT 'QBE' THOUGH THE EXPOSITION IS
INTERRUPTED DURING THE HOURS OF NIGHT

BEATISSIME PATER

Jacobus Lynch, Episcopus Kildarensis et Leighline nsis quo
magis erga SS. Eucharistiae Sacramentum plebis sibi commissae
devotio accendatur magnopere cupit preces quadraginta horarum
in suam, quibus convenit locis, introducere dioecesim. Ut vero
incommoda et pericula praecaveantur per me infrascriptum Co-
adjutorem hurnillime petit, ut occasione precum praedictarum in

DOCUMENTS 91

sua dioecesi concedatur sine detrimento privilegiorum et indul-
gentiarum SS. Sacramentum tota die juxta morem expositum
post Benedictionem singulis Vesperis populo factum tabernaculo
reponere.

PATKITIUS FOLEY, Episcopus Coadjutor,

Ex Audientia Ssmi. habite, die 8 Septembris, 1896
Ssmus. D. N. Leo Divina Providentia P.P. XIII. referente
infrascripto S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide Secretario
attentis expositis, benigne indulsit, ut in Ecclesiis et publicis
Oratoriis memoratae diocesis Kildarensis et Leighlinensis peragi
valeat pium exercitium quadraginta horarum, facta expositione
SSmi. Eucharistiae Sacramenti per triduum horis diurnis tantum
a mane usque ad vesperam, horis autem nocturnis interpolatis,
cum applicatione omnium indulgentiarum eidem pio exercitio a
Summis Pontificibus concessarum, quamvis ea omnia servari
nequeant, quae in Instructione sa. me. dementis VIII. (XI. ?)
praescripta sunt ; caeterisque in contrarium nib.il obstantibus.

Datum Eomae ex aedibus S. Congregationis de Propaganda
Fide, die et anno ut supra.

Pro B. P. D., Seer.
C. LAUKENTI.

NOTICES OF BOOKS

OUE MAETYES : A Eecord of those who suffered for the
Catholic Faith under the Penal Laws in Ireland. By
the late Eev. Denis Murphy, S.J., LL.D., M.K.I. A.
Dublin : Fallen & Co. 1896.

ON reading the title-page of this book, the public will be
reminded of the. great loss which the country sustained some
months ago in the death of its distinguished author. A zealous
priest of an illustrious order — a profound scholar in the history
and general antiquities of his country, indefatigable in research,
skilful in compilation, an active member of every movement for
the furtherance of historical and antiquarian studies, the official
promoter of the cause of the Irish martyrs — it was with reason
he was held in respect while living, and it is with reason his
memory claims respect after death. The labour of his life has
been fruitful in valuable results — -many, it may be, unrecorded,
as are often the best achievements of lives like his, but many too
which history will gratefully acknowledge and transmit. Perhaps
his best known work is Cromwell in Ireland, a characteristically
truthful narrative of that dark but glorious chapter in the record
of our country's sufferings. His History of Ireland is the best
school manual on the subject we know of. His merit as an editor
of manuscript materials is established by the publication and
translation of the Triumphalia Chronologcia Monasterii S. Crucis
in Hibernia, and Synopsis Nonnullorum Sanctorum Illustriumque
Hibernorum Monachorum Cistercien&ium (1 vol. 4to, 1891). The
present work was already in the press at the time of Dr. Murphy's
death, and, with the exception of the preface, which has been
written by another hand, the book comes to us as he left it.

We may best estimate its worth by explaining its purpose and
plan. It does not pretend to paint the lives and sufferings of our
martyrs with the literary skill and dramatic effect which the
subject would well admit, but merely to introduce to the public,
partly by quotation, partly by reference, the authentic materials
of their history, collected originally by Dr. Murphy for the
purpose of a judicial process. The book bears pretty much the
same relation to a finished history as an attorney's instruction

NOTICES OF BOOKS 93

to a counsel's defence. We have no right to find fault with
Dr. Murphy for not attempting the counsel's part ; what he did
attempt he has, as far as we can judge, satisfactorily accom-
plished, and there is no higher praise to bestow. Of the industry
employed, we may form some conjecture from the extensive
catalogue of old, rare, out-of-the-way books and manuscripts
which are given as among the more important sources quoted
from or referred to. If any subsequent worker in the same field
possesses the talent and feels the noble inspiration to perfect the
work and popularize ihe memory of our martyred heroes, it is
he, we believe, will appreciate the value of Dr. Murphy's labours
as a preparation for his own.

The plan of the book is determined by its purpose. Dr, Murphy
had written a discussion on the theological definition of martyrdom,
and its application to the case of his clients ; but, as it could not
be found among his papers, its place has been supplied by the
writer of the preface. The Introduction gives an excellent digest
of the penal laws, intended to show that their spirit was essen-
tially hatred of the Catholic religion, and that, consequently, the
victims of their operation were truly martyrs in the theologi-
cal sense. To some this might appear superfluous, but for
Dr. Murphy's purpose it is very apt. Then follows the record
proper, where will be found, arranged under the years of their
death, the names of more than two hundred and fifty martyrs,
together with several communities, some of forty and fifty
members, whose names, we take it, have been lost to history
though inscribed in the Book of Life. The sketches given, some
very brief, others more extended, as materials offered, are almost
entirely transcripts from contemporary authorities, in many cases
recording the testimony of eye-witnesses. As a rule, there is
given only the account of one writer, but where corroboration
seemed necessary other authorities are quoted, and in all cases
reference is made to all the known sources. Seldom does
Dr. Murphy make a statement in his own words ; never without
indicating his authority. Discrepancies between the original
authorities, where they occur, are pointed out, and some useful
critical remarks subjoined in the foot-notes. The period covered
by his researches is one hundred and fifty-six, years, from 1535 to
1691 ; and though it is true that heaven alone holds a complete
list of our martyrs during those years, we may take it that
human records have few, if any, additional names to yield.

94 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

The martyr-roll itself, as we have it in this book, is an
interesting study. Seven archbishops are among the names of
glory, all four provinces contributing. Armagh still holds the
primacy with those purple-clad, palm-bearing champions ; Cashel
follows after with two ; and Dublin and Tuarn with one each.
Nine rulers of suffragan sees swell the mitred throng. Priests,
secular and religious, in mingled concourse, surround the Pontiff
band ; while knights and soldiers and citizens, virgins and
widows and matrons make a fringe for the shining crowd. It
will be noticed that some of the names in Dr. Murphy's list are
already venerable, being included among the English martyrs
whose cause was admitted in 1886 to the Congregation of Eites.
They are rightly claimed as our martyrs, for though it was
English soil that was sanctified by their blood, the blood itself
was Irish, and, beside its shedding there, some of them had no
connection with the sister isle.

P. J. T.

CANTIONES ECCLESIASTICAE ad voces aequales. Eccle-
siastical Chants for Soprano and Alto voices. By Michael
Haller, op. 43. Three Parts. Eatisbon : A. Coppenrath. 1
THIS collection of compositions by Haller will, doubtless, prove
very acceptable to choirs consisting solely of female voices.
Especially the third part will be very welcome to convent choirs,
as it contains some of the chants for the ceremonies of reception
or profession. It gives settings, for three equal voices, of the
Regnum mundi,Veni electamea,Desponsari, dilecta, veni,Veni sponsa
Christi (two settings), and Haec est quae nescivit, to which
is added an Offertory, Ave Maria. The first part also contains
a three-part Veni sponsa Christi, and Qui confidunt in Domino,
together with an Ecce Sacerdos, and some hymns to the Blessed
Sacrament. The second part gives compositions to texts, which,
we are sure, many choirs have often been anxious to sing; namely,
a Hymn and an Offertory of the Holy Name, and the Gradual
and Offertory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There are, besides,
two four-part compositions for Easter time. Separate voice parts
are. published for each of the three parts of this useful work.

1 Complaints have frequently been made about the difficulty of procuring
music published on the Continent. If anyone who experiences this difficulty
•will send his order to the Kev. H. Bewerunge, Maynooth College, he will see
that it will be promptly executed.

NOTICES OF BOOKS 95

CATHOLIC CHURCH Music. Parts VI. and IX. Eucharisfcic
Hymns for two, three, and four female voices. By Joseph
Modlmayr. Eatisbon : A. Coppenrath.
As there is a great demand for hymns to the Blessed Sacra-
ment composed for equal voices, we beg to recommend the above
artistic and devotional settings. The work in question contains
three compositions for two parts, four for three, and two for four
parts. Separate voice parts are published..

REPERTORIUM OF CHURCH Music. Part 5 Missa in
honorem St. Caeciliae, for three equal voices and organ.
By P. Piel. Part 38. Missa VI.a in hon. Purissimi
Cordis B.M.V., for three male voices and organ. By
Jos. Beltjens.

UNDER the general title of Eepertorium of Church Music,
Messrs. Feuchtinger and Gleichauf, of Eatisbon, have brought out
in a neat and handy form some useful compositions which have
been published first as musical supplements of the Courrier
de Saint Gregoir, in Liege. The above-mentioned three-parts
Masses, Piel's, foi either femaJe voices or male voices, and
Beltjens' for male voices, can be particularly recommended as
fairly easy aud melodious compositions. The voice parts are
printed separately.

MISSA SEXTA DECIMA. In honorem S. Antonii. de Padua.

Mass with organ accompaniment. By Michael Haller,

op. 62. Ratisbon : A. Coppenrath.

THE German composers of the Cecilian School rarely edit
Masses with organ accompaniment, most of the continental choirs
preferring the a capella style of singing. As the conditions of our
choirs, however, generally necessitate the use of the organ for
accompaniment, we must all the more welcome Haller's easy and
pleasing Mass in honour of St. Antony. There are two editions of
it, for both of which scores and separate parts are published — one
for two mixed voices, and one for four mixed voices. Choirs
with a small number of singers, or with one part insufficiently
provided for, could not do better than select the first edition, in
which all the female voices sing the one part, all the male voices
the other. This arrangement will produce, in the case mentioned,
a fuller effect than if the voices were distributed over the four
parts. H. B.

96 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

THE WONDERFUL FLOWER OF WOXINDON. Freiburg:

Herder

THIS is the title of a volume of 500 pages, by Eev. Joseph
Spelman, S.J. It is an historical romance, dealing with the
Penal days under Elizabeth, and principally with the time and
circumstances of the conspiracy of the ill-fated Babington and his
associates for the release of Mary Stuart. The incidents pour-
trayed are of authentic history, with a slight thread of fiction to
connect the principal details of the story. The scene is laid in
London and the country in its vicinity. The story is told in the
form of reminiscences of three of the principal actors, each taking
up the narration of that part in which he himself was principally
engaged. The execution of this plan gives a quaint and archaic
colouring to the whole.

The author has succeeded in giving us a very vivid picture
of the political and religious life of this troubled period. He has
imparted also much valuable information with regard to the
character and conduct of the Queen of Scots. He has followed
closely in this the authority of the Protestant historian, Hosack,
whose revelation of the treacherous and intriguing statecraft of
which she was made the victim_is truly appalling. In a few touches
here and there the character of Elizabeth is also well delineated
by one of the autobiographers. The sufferings of the Catholics
under the Penal regime, the many stratagems adopted by the
pious priests in ministering to their co-religionists, and the zeal
and ardour displayed by the members of the illustrious Order of
St. Ignatius, supply the tale with many affecting and elevating
incidents. To one thing in the story we make objection —
the incident of the Wonderful Flower. This we consider too
improbable, even for romance ; and, if we except that it furnishes
a catching title to the volume, it seems to serve no useful purpose,
as it neither furthers nor retards the action of the plot. The
volume is neatly printed and bound.

C. M.

IRISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES

>T is more than a thousand years ago that good
Walafrid Strabo spoke of the migratory tendencies
of the Irish people : ' Quibus mos peregrinandi
paene in naturam con versa est.' Since then
they have certainly not belied the judgment of the old
magister, and the annals of the Continent are proof that
a multitude of the Irish Gael has found its way to
every nation and every city of Europe, especially since
the downfall of the Irish State at the beginning of
the seventeenth century. We read with astonishment that
nearly a million of Irishmen fought and perished in the
service of the French crown, and we instinctively add to
that number all those who followed the wavering fortunes
of Spain, Austria, and Russia during the same epoch, not to
speak of the minor powers of Europe. In the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries Ireland seems to have been, like
Switzerland in the fifteenth, a pepiniere of swordsmen and
lancers, an inexhaustible source of warlike men.

The discovery of the New World opened up to the Gael,
as to all other European peoples, boundless occasions for
the satisfaction of the spirit of adventure, and when the
domestic struggle for political independence that fills and
consecrates the sixteenth century in Ireland was over, and
the great earls had fled in despair, we see the Irish Gael
appearing in the New World, in constantly growing numbers,
and exercising upon its fortunes no despicable influence.
Tradition has it that Miles Standish was an Irishman and a

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.— FEBRUARY, 1897. G

98 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Catholic. An Irishman, William, is put by Navarrete among
the companions of Columbus. Sir Thomas Dongan of
Cork, ' a far-sighted and able man/ was Governor of New
York towards the end of the seventeenth century, and in
the course of the eighteenth many a stout ship bore its
hundreds of Irish immigrants into the ports of Philadelphia,
New York, New London, and Baltimore. Colonial develop-
ment, war, foreign commerce, domestic discontent, religious
oppression were among the causes that filled with Irishmen
the vessels that regularly sailed from Dublin, Cork, and
Londonderry. Their descendants, unhappily, are lost to
the faith to-day by no fault of theirs. It is sad to think of
the religious privations of men like Daniel O'Sullivan, the
Kerry schoolmaster, who penetrated the wilds of New
Hampshire about the middle of the eighteenth century,
and became the progenitor of the revolutionary Sullivans
and of other families famous to-day in the New England
States. During the eighteenth century, the colonial ports
were never without their fair proportion of Irishmen, for
the sea has ever been as dear to the men of Erin as to the
men of England, and they may praise with equal zeal —

This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone, set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house.

It is certain that Northern New York and Pennsylvania
received large accessions of Gaelic Catholics in the first half
of the eighteenth century, both Scotch and Irish Gael.
Scarcely a month passes that the newspapers of the period
do not chronicle the arrival of hundreds. In the latter half
of the century New London, in Connecticut, was a favourite
port of entry for Irish immigrants, and the eastern portion
of that State was largely settled by Irish, though of
Protestant faith. The revolutionary war brought many
Irishmen to the colonies, for several of the British regiments
were entirely composed of the Gael. On the American side
a good portion of the soldiers were Irishmen, according to
the testimony of General Lee, cited by the British General
Bobertson before the Committee of the House of Commons,

IRISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 09

in 1778. In this country we are all familiar with similar
evidences of George Washington and of Verplank, not to
speak of the famous phrase of Parke Custis, the adopted
son of Washington, that ' in the revolutionary war Ireland
furnished one hundred men to any single man furnished
by any foreign nation.'

Coming down from the earliest English settlement of
this territory, there is in the United States, especially in
Virginia and New England, a deep strain of Gaelic blood,
one of whose sources is the steady kidnapping, during the
seventeenth century, of thousands of Irish girls and boys,
brought over to the West Indian Colonies, and to Virginia
and New England in particular. The curious researches
of Mr. John Prendergast in. his Cromwellian Settlement of
Ireland, and the ' permits ' of Cromwell in the ' State
Papers ' of England, are irrefragable proofs of this practice.
Nevertheless, neither this infusion of Gaelic blood, nor the
great number of eighteenth century Irish redemptioners
(temporary bondsmen), nor the other sources of Irish
immigration previous to the opening of the nineteenth
century, would ever have- brought about the marvellous
results that have since come to pass through the mighty
exodus of an entire people from the venerable seat of its
nistory and its power. This exodus is yet too near us, and
its results are yet too personal and present, to permit my
discussing it from a philosophical point of view. Hence I
shall confine myself to some facts, and to such considera-
tions as seem best fitted for the direction of those who
intend in the future to cast in their lot with the great
Republic of the West, the world's great bulwark of liberty
without license, and individual freedom without anarchy or
despotism.

We are told by Dr. Edward Young, formerly Chief of
the United States Bureau of Statistics, that ' prior to the
year 1820 no official records were kept of the influx of
foreign population to this country.' The same official
estimates that between 1776 and 1820 the aggregate
immigration was about 250,000. The entire popula-
tion of the colonies at the opening of the war was about

100 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

3,000,000, one-third of whom were probably born on the
other side of the Atlantic, while the parents of a large portion
of the remainder were among the early immigrants. If we
apply to this first period, when immigration statistics were
unknown, the ratio of proportion which has steadily obtained
since then between the emigrants from the British Isles, we
shall conclude that from 1776 to 1895 Ireland has contri-
buted fully seventy per cent, of the emigration from the
political island- world of Great Britain. The total trans-
atlantic immigration to the United States since 1820, from
all parts whatsoever, is put down at 17,708,331. Of this
vast number the British Isles have contributed, during these
seventy-six years, 6,743,783, in the following proportion : —

Ireland . . . 3,723,356
England . . . 2,647,230
Scotland . . . 373,197

In the same period Germany contributed 4,940,538;
Norway and Sweden, 1,136,875 ; Austro-Hungary, 716,266 ;
Italy, 680,568; and France, 392,359. It is to be noted
that the strength of the Irish immigration antedates that
of most other European nations, and, relatively to all,
was long enormously in advance, when we consider the
small bulk of the population whence it has been drawn.
Premising that the total population of the United States
according to the census of 1890, was 62,622,250, and that
of this number, 53,332,063 were native born, 9,290,167
foreign born, that 55,157,210 were white, and about
7,470,040 were black, it may be of interest to the readers
of the I. E. EECOED to read the following table, in which
the Bureau of Statistics has tabulated the arrivals from
Ireland by decades since 1820 :—

1820-1830 . . . 50,724

1830-1840 . . . 207,381

1840-1850 . . . 780,719

1850-1860 . . . 914,119

1860-1870 . . . 435,778

1870-1880 . . . 436,871

1880-1890 . . . 655,482

1890-1895 . . 242,282

3,723,356

IRISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 101

This enormous Irish immigration to America is fully
appreciated only when we remember that Canada,
Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, and all the
English colonies have been drawing heavily for their
increase of population on the ever-teeming bosom of
Ireland.

We must remember too that the nation which furnishes
this multitude of immigrants is now one of the smallest
on the earth, and that in less than fifty years it has
sunk in population from about eight to considerably
less than five million souls. Yet, strange phenomenon !
while the nation has dwindled, the race has increased
beyond all imagination, and it is calculated that to-day there
are in the world no less than 20,000,000 men of direct
Irish descent.

Our Treasury statistics show that the Irish immigration
is drawn from that element of the population which
furnishes the natural increase of any people. Between
June 30, 1892, and June 30, 1893, out of a total of
European immigration of 488,832, there came from Ireland
49.233 souls. Of that number 2,781 were under fifteen,
1,929 over forty, and 44,523 between fifteen and forty
years of age. Of this number, 21,435 were males, and
23,088 were females.

In the decade 1880-1890, the Irish immigrants under
fifteen were 92,308 ; over forty, 48,085 ; while those
between fifteen and forty numbered 515,089. Thus
Ireland contributed in ten years to the population of
the United States about one-ninth of her own actual
brawn and sinew, her grace and her gentleness. And
the most ancient social organism of Europe is still pour-
ing westward an endless stream of men and women, to
those regions of Hy-Brasil that Brendan, doubtless, gazed
upon, a'nd whose sands the holy feet of Ailbe may have
trodden I

In fifteen years the United States has received from
Ireland about one-fifth of her actual population, as the
following table shows. The figures are taken from the

102

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

latest Treasury statistics (1896), and the years begin and
end on June 30 : —

1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895

77,342
76,432
81,486
63,344
51,795
49,619
68,370
73,513
65,557
53,024
55,706
55,467
49,223
33,904

860,670

The greater part of this immigration has been and is yet
drawn from the labouring classes, though it is pleasing to
note that Ireland sends us, proportionately, as large a per-
centage of professional and skilled labour as any other
nation. Our immigration laws are becoming more exacting
as the nation awakens to certain dangers inevitable from the
uncontrolled inpouring of European and Asiatic humanity,
and to-day paupers or persons without any visible means of
support, or likely to be a charge to the State, are rigidly
excluded. Contract labourers are also excluded in the
interest of our own multitude of workingmen, and the trend
is towards a still more sweeping legislation. It is not likely,
however, that the doors of the United States will ever be
shut to those human elements that have brought it growth
and greatness in the past, and are in harmony with the
fundamental principles and the spirit of the principles of
the American State ; whose responsibilities, it is true, grow
greater with every decade, but whose possibilities open ever
more widely to the eye of the patriotic citizen.

Where have these multitudes of Irish gone, and what are
they doing ? They are everywhere, in manufacturing New
England and New York, in mining Pennsylvania, in the

IRISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 103

agricultural Middle States and the North-west, on the Pacific
slope, in the South Atlantic and the Gulf States. There
is to-day scarcely an American hamlet in which the blood of
the Milesian is not represented. The Irish are exceedingly
numerous in many of our great cities, such as New York,
Chicago, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston, and others. In
the Southern States, for obvious reasons, their number is
not so great at present, but with the increasing prosperity
of this favoured region we may expect soon to see a larger
influx of the children of Erin. In many Western States,
in communities that have sprung up within this generation,
and in which ancient prejudice is weak, or comparatively
unknown, the Irish enjoy a high degree of consideration
and are among the prominent pioneers of this wonderful
complexus of young and vigorous States. In the older
States the social and religious dislike that once operated to
the detriment of the Irish is disappearing rapidly, owing to
several important reasons, chief among which is the ease
with which the Irish immigrant merges into the political
and social life around him, bringing with him the now
common language, and accustomed from youth to a life of
political activity and responsibility, and to the exercise of
most, if not all, of the rights of a freeman.

No man born out of the United States may be president
or vice-president ; but in the Senate and the House of
Representatives, on the judicial bench, in the army and
navy, in the civil service, is an ever-growing number of
men of Irish descent who shed lustre on their origin, and
are beyond reproach as men and citizens. In education,
law, journalism, literature, the plastic and applied arts, they
hold foremost places, and their ardour and generosity lend
much zest and colour to our national life. More than one
critic of our manners notices a certain indescribable some-
thing in the American character borrowed from long and
close contact with the Irishman, perhaps one expression
of the strain of Irish blood that surely exists here from a
very early date.

The presence of the Irishman may be traced all over the
United States, if only by the nomenclature of towns and

104 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

cities. And many of their names date from the last century,
while others are of yesterday. But in every State, in the
oldest as in the newest, there are communities whose first
settlers were numerous and affectionate enough to perpetuate
in the New World the sweet name that recalled all they had
sacrificed in the Old.

Very naturally, I will be asked what advice ought to
be given the intending immigrant from Ireland. I might
answer by referring to the natural advisers at home and
here, as well as to the admirable literature which has grown
up about this question in past years. Fr. Stephen Byrne,
the works of Thomas D'Arcy M'Gee, John Maguire, M.P.,
and Bishop Spalding, as well as the reports of the
Colonization Society, contain invaluable suggestions, and
are far from being antiquated. The files of the older
Catholic newspapers, like the Boston Pilot, the New York
Freeman's Journal, the Philadelphia Standard and Times,
the Baltimore Mirror, and others, contain much valuable
advice and direction, that any student of this question might
well ponder over and digest before writing on it ex professo.
I can only offer a few general suggestions, of a moral and
political character, leaving to others the more practical and
economic view of this grave problem.

1. The Irish immigrant ought to be a model of the natural
virtues. He is usually a Catholic, and if the supernatural
life of grace is not raised upon a foundation of natural virtue,
he is apt to give a false impression of the nature, scope, and
value of his religion. He must, therefore, adapt himself to
the land in which he seeks a refuge, and he must remember
that he owes a debt of gratitude to that country which
opens wide its doors to him, and places within easy reach
what is to-day the greatest of civil privileges, the American
citizenship. He leaves a land where as yet he is debarred,
directly or indirectly, from many things that his heart
desires, but that his race or religion, or both, prevent him
enjoying. He comes into the chief state of the New "World,
and in five years he walks a king among men, clothed with
the panoply of free citizenship, with the right of suffrage,
active and passive, eligible to everv office but the highest,

IRISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 105

from which, however, his children are not debarred. The
very magnificence of this American political generosity
makes many foreigners forget that it is a boon pure and
simple, to which they have no right, and which may be
curtailed or denied as easily as it has been lavished.

2. The American people admire thrift, perseverance,
business honour, faith of contracts. Their 's is a mighty
commercial state; but it is no nation of shopkeepers, if
by that be meant a ' gross, vulgarian ' soul. They love
the virtues that adorn the days of peace, but they are surely
not deficient in .those that befit the strenuous period of
war. The energy which elsewhere is spent on mighty
armaments and on mutual checkmating, is here expended
on the forces of nature. From the mill-dam that treasures
the 'power' for the New England factory to the wonder-
ful harnassing of Niagara; from the turnpike and canal
to the great iron roadways that bind the Atlantic and
Pacific across a stretch of three thousand miles ; from the
modest steam-boat of Fulton to the mighty Indiana, or the
Massachusetts, there has been in. this country such a con-
tinuous development of all the business and commercial
virtues as the world has never seen. What if there be
excesses or dangers ? Every healthy body has its crises,
its perils, and states are not free from them. But the
recuperative powers of this state are beyond calculation,
for deep in the hearts of the vast majority of its citizens
are planted religious conscience, belief in one God and His
revelation, admiration and practice of virtue, natural and
scriptural, charity and forbearance, belief in a future life
of rewards and punishments.

3. There is here no public legalized blasphemy, no osten-
tatious violation of the Sunday rest, no cynical disregard of
the claims of virtue, nor will the immigrant see here the
idea of God and His guiding Providence relegated to the
family or the individual. This nation of seventy millions
reads with gladness and piety the annual formal message of
our President, wherein God, Providence, Prayer, Christi-
anity are formally allowed and commended to every citizen.
The American heart is, therefore, a religious, nay, a Christian

106 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

hearc ; and in that heart lies the panacea for the crescent
ills of our political life.

We have just gone through a most exciting election, in
which the greatest domestic issues were involved, yet to-day
peace reigns supreme over the land, and men look hopefully
and fraternally into one another's eyes, who but yesterday
contended in the political arena. We have great political
parties divided on many public issues; yet all have confidence
in the executive, and the rumours of war, or the complications
of international problems, are calmly entrusted to the repre-
sentatives of the people, with the most solemn confidence
that they will not belie their mandates, will not act with
haste or passion, or allow the dignity of the state to suffer.

4. It will not be amiss if I say here a few words on good
citizenship. The Irish immigrant who arrives on our shores
beholds before him a most varied political life, in which
ward, town, city, county, state, and nation play each a role
of absorbing interest. He is already half fitted by his
language, domestic political training, and certain innate
tendencies or qualities, to enter into this life. He usually
does, and with no small share of success, for the Irish race
has developed the world over, a rare political capacity, as
the history of the English colonies alone will show, or a
cursory view of the foreign relations of England in this
century. On this blessed soil of freedom the Irish immigrant
needs to cultivate every civic virtue, interest in all public
problems, conscientious study of public issues, the sense of
union for the common weal, unprejudiced devotion to the
growth of the State, incorruptible exercise of the sacred
right of the ballot, which is the holy fountain of our political
life and well-being, and to poison or trifle with which is to
cut at the root of our State. The laws guarantee and
promise to protect the free exercise of the right of suffrage,
and condemn any unwarranted interference with it. They
provide for secret balloting, and they have left nothing
undone to place the individual voter in a position to register
his personal, conscientious opinions. Nor should anyone
imagine that it is a slight thing to cast a vote against one's
conscience, or as the result of a barter or trade. Beside

IRISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 107

the scandal, there is the wrong done to the popular sove-
reignty, the Majestas Americana, which is endangered by
no act so much as by the corrupt use of the ballot, an act
which more than any other tends to justify the enemies of
our State and our institutions.

5. It would not be proper for me to recommend publicly
to immigrants any particular part of the United States. But
it will not be out of place if they are recommended not to
immigrate without some definite knowledge of where they
are going, and what they expect to do. This is a dictate of
natural prudence. There was a time when the Irish labourer
alone controlled the labour market in the United States ;
but that day is gone, and this honourable labour is now
contended for among us by many other European, and even
Asiatic nationalities, driven to our hospitable shores by
sorrowful circumstances, -not unsimilar to those which
motivated the coming of so many children of Erin. For
various reasons they are often successful competitors in the
lower kinds of labour; and while this forces the Irishman to go
up in the social scale, it often deprives the arriving immigrant
of that sure and permanent support which he could once
count on during the first years of his American life.

6. When he can command it, the immigrant ought to bring
with him a sum of money as large as his means or circum-
stances permit. This would be wise, even in a new colony.
It is much more needed in these times, when the great cities
are becoming congested, and sudden economic disturbances
frighten the world of commerce and business into inactivity.
It takes means also to cross the great stretches of the
country, to purchase land, stock it, and live until the land
is productive. Some of our staples have lately fluctuated
greatly in value — for temporary and artificial reasons, all
believe ; nevertheless the penniless emigrant, who expects
to live by the land, is gravely affected by these conditions,
much more so than the native farmer, whose employed
children, distant connections, familiarity with the country,
may enable him to weather the storm. Ordinarily speaking,
capital invested in the United States is most productive.
There are many hundreds of millions of English capital

108 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

here — in our railroads, bridges, mines, mills, breweries, and
the like ; and there is no reason why those who have capital
in Ireland should not invest it here with great profit,
especially if they come in person to superintend its employ-
ment. I recall more than one instance where Irishmen
have prospered greatly on the funds they brought with them
and invested in some of our American enterprises.

Perhaps someone will ask what I think of Irish immi-
gration in general. Ought the Irish to stay at home,
or ought they emigrate very largely, and especially to
the United States? It is a grave problem. Ireland is
a very ancient nation, with a very glorious history,
and her race of men is pre-eminently adapted to the
soil on which they live. Divine Providence seems to
have matched the lovely and fertile island with a popula-
tion of brave and industrious men, and pure and beautiful
women. Surely this has not been in order to tear them
roughly from the farm and the hamlet, the mill and the
forge, the cradle and the spinning-wheel, to scatter them
like the leaves of the forest or the sands of the sea.
The natural development of .any race is on the ancestral
soil, where nature and tradition are the venerable nurses
of manhood and womanhood, where the racial virtues are
natural and frequent, and the racial vices most easily extir-
pated or counterbalanced. Then, too, history is a great
magician, and throws still over every feature of the land-
scape, as well as over the whole 'sweetest isle of the ocean,'
an irresistible charm,in which it is hard to tell what element
prevails the most — the deep human love of one's accustomed
haunts, of ' the cabin-door fast by the wild wood,' or the
ineffable devotion that feeds and grows upon the awful
sorrows which beset it ; the sweet sense of kinship with .the
long lines of clan-ancestry that fade off into the dawn of
history, or the ineradicable passionate longing to see secular
injustice righted, and the harp of Innisfail once again
' strung full high to notes of gladness.' Whatever be its
component elements, there is no gainsaying the material
charm of Ireland, and in the chain which binds her children
to her it is, perhaps, not the least resistful of the links.

IRISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 109

Yet this same history shows us the Irish race as
possessed beyond all others with the spirit of the world-
wanderer. The earliest reliable utterances of their history
bear witness that they were seafaring, adventurous people ;
and since their conversion to Christianity there can be no
doubt that this spirit has been heightened and consecrated
by religious ardour for the propagation of Christianity.
Willingly and unwillingly, wittingly and unwittingly, they
have been a people of missionaries longer than any other race.
No other people ever gave themselves en bloc to Christian
missions as they ; no other people ever suffered for their
Catholic faith as they. And when, with the dawn of this
century, the remarkable movement began which has to-day
produced some 130,000,000 of English-speaking people, and
been the chief element in the renascence of Catholicism from
its Continental tomb, it was the Irish who were the pioneers,
they being then almost the only English-speaking Catholics,
and devoting themselves the world over to the planting of
the Catholic faith, the support of its claims and its mission-
aries, and the sustenance of the Papal authority. They are
no longer the only English-speaking Catholics, though they
are yet everywhere the majority ; but we would be base and
ingrate to forget that it was they who bore the brunt of the
struggle for many decades of this century.

I would not, therefore, discourage Irish immigration,
because there are at stake more than economic considera-
tions. There are at stake the interests of the Catholic
religion, which in this land and in this age are largely bound
up with the interests of the Irish people. God's hand is
upon them, going and coming ; and I prefer to believe that
He who harmonizes the motion of the planets and the flow
of the tides is also the First Agent and the Prime Mover in
those no less mysterious movements by which peoples pass
from one land to another, even as Israel went down out of
Egypt into Canaan, or the Wandering Nations came out of
the frozen North and overflowed the Eoman Empire.

ffr J. CAED. GIBBONS,

Archbishop of Baltimore.

[ 110 ]

THE INDEX IN IRELAND

AMONG the innumerable evils prevalent in this age, there is
hardly any which is more deplorable, or which does greater
damage to the faith and morals of Christians, than ' that
most noisome plague of books in which sin is taught, and
which are circulating in such numbers everywhere. These books
are written in a good style, though full of fallacy and artifice ;
they are scattered broadcast at enormous expense, unto the
ruin of the Christian people ; they disseminate everywhere their
pestiferous doctrines, and deprave the mind and heart of those
especially who are not on their guard.' 1

Nor can we pretend in the least that this most doleful con-
dition of things does not exist even among ourselves in Ireland ;
although it is not so bad here as in other places.

For there are everywhere on sale, and may be had for a trifle,
books, pamphlets, novels, periodicals, the writers of which either
openly or insidiously attack and endeavour to subvert religion
and morality. And writings of this kind are sometimes bought
by Catholics, are taken into their homes, and are read indiscri-
minately by children and servants.2

This is how the bishops of Ireland, assembled in synod
at Maynooth, described the condition of things that pre-
vailed in this country in 1875.

Twenty-one years have passed since, and it may be
asked whether there has been any subsidence of the deluge
which Pius IX. saw spread over the civilized world ; whether
the plague of impure and irreligious literature shows any
sign of having spent its force and of passing away.

It is very much to be feared that the reverse is true :
that there is an increase in the number of those who think
themselves at liberty to read books and periodicals in which
un-Catholic or even heretical doctrines are advocated ; and
that, whilst the moral tone of the novel is not improved,
this class of literature is circulating more and more exten-
sively among our people ; so that not only men, but even

Pius IX. Encycl. , Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846.
2 Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Maynooth, nn. 347-9.

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 111

women and girls — and perhaps these especially — now read
openly and without scruple what would have brought a
blush of shame to the cheeks of their mothers and their
aunts in the days of the Synod of Maynooth.

To some this may appear the language of exaggeration :
pray God it may be so. But from what I myself know
of the books that are freely read both by clergy and laity ;
considering, moreover, the class of literature one sees
exposed for sale not only at railway book-stalls, which are
patronized by persons of all creeds, but in the shops of our
Catholic booksellers ; and bearing in mind what one hears
from priests who have spent years on the mission in our
towns, I dare not hope that things are better now in Ireland
than they were twenty-one years ago. The poison has
spread into the daily and weekly press ; perhaps it would be
more true to say that the virulent principles propounded in
these organs from the beginning have now developed into
almost open irreligion ; so that people who never read
either a book or a review are weakened in faith and
deprived of moral tone by the unwholesome pabulum
supplied to them under the name of politics or of general
news.

I.

If this be anything like a fair representation of what is
going on among our people, it is surely the duty of the
clergy to consider seriously how they may cope with so
great an evil. The only remedy I know of, — besides prayer,
which is not a specific for this case, — is, to warn the faithful
of their obligation in the matter ; to do this in social inter-
course, as well as in the confessional, from the pulpit, and
in the press ; and to show them good example by abstaining,
for our own part, from reading publications which we
condemn as dangerous to the faith and the morals of the
laity.

Here the question arises : What are the obligations
of Irish Catholics with regard to dangerous books and
periodicals ? What are we to preach ? Are we to confine
ourselves to inculcating the natural law, which undoubtedly

112 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

forbids one under pain of mortal sin to expose oneself to
seriotls spiritual danger, except under stress of some neces-
sity proportionate to the risk ? Or, should not a priest go
further ; and, as the Church has made special laws to
preserve her children from this particular form of contagion,
may it not be better, in the confessional and elsewhere, to
insist on the observance of these special enactments, and to
be himself the first to give the good example of obedience in
a matter of such importance ?

There are many zealous priests who prefer the first of
these courses. I propose to examine the reasons by which
they are influenced ; and I would ask those who may read
this paper, and who take an interest in the subject, to
supply any arguments that may escape my attention, and
generally to discuss the whole question with an honest
desire to discover the best and most prudent course,
and not with any view to securing a petty dialectical
triumph.

II.

Those who would have pastors of souls in Ireland confine
their teaching with regard to dangerous books, to admoni-
tions based on the natural law, seem to be influenced by
two main reasons. In the first place, they do not regard
the legislation of the Church as actually and proximately
binding in this country ; and, as a consequence, they main-
tain that those who without necessity or dispensation
deliberately read books written for the express purpose of
advocating heretical doctrine, do not commit any sin against
ecclesiastical obedience, nor incur any ecclesiastical penalty,
even though they violate the natural law and sin grievously
against the virtue of faith.

In the next place, there seems to be a feeling that, even
supposing the faithful in Ireland to be proximately bound
by the Eules of the Index and the Constitution Apostolicae
Sedis, in the sense explained, yet in the present state of the
Irish Church it is not prudent to insist on the observance of
this special legislation ; inasmuch as we should thereby for
a certainty multiply evils, whilst it is extremely doubtful

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 113

whether we should secure anything like a proportionate
gain.

Moreover, of those who are influenced by this latter
reason, some, at least, seem to entertain doubts as to
whether these special laws of the Church are of any use for
the end they are intended to promote. It is sometimes said
that in the past the Inquisition and the Index did more
harm than good to the Catholic cause ; that, in any case,
the day is gone by when we could hope to gag the press ;
that an educated public are sure in the end to discern and
cleave to the truth ; and that, instead of forbidding books
and periodicals to the faithful, our endeavour should be to
leaven these publications with sound Catholic doctrine ; and
we should thus not only keep our own flock safe, but win over
many who are at present straying in the darkness of heresy
and unbelief. The atmosphere of the world, we are reminded,
is cold and harsh ; and as the faithful cannot remain
always within the hot-house of good Catholic society, they
are all the safer for being hardened by occasional exposures
to the evil influences against which they shall have to
struggle through life. This and much more to the
same effect is what one hears advanced occasionally in
justification of the liberal views which seem to have
crept in among us with regard to this matter of dangerous
reading.

Now, it is not easy to see how any reflecting Catholic,
with the laws and traditional practice of the Church
before him, can maintain that either now or at any other
time it could be anything but a calamity if the faithful read,
or were allowed to read, bad books. That there is danger —
serious danger — in bad literature, is a proposition which for
Catholics needs no proof. That it is wrong to expose one's
faith to peril, unless one be justified by reason of some
proportionate necessity, is equally undeniable. Free-thinkers
and advocates of private judgment may reject one or
other of these two propositions ; but surely no right-
minded Catholic can agree or sympathize with them in
this.

It is equally in accordance with the Catholic tradition to
VOL. r. H

114 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

believe that the natural law which forbids us to expose
ourselves to this danger, except under pressure of a pro-
portionate necessity, is safeguarded by the addition of an
ecclesiastical precept to the same effect. Bad books have
been condemned by ecclesiastical authority almost from the
beginning ; they have been ordered to be burned, and the
faithful have been commanded, under the severest penalties,
to abstain from reading them. The policy of the Index is
traditional in the Church ; so that I do not know how any
Catholic can pronounce it a mistaken policy, of little or no
use as a safeguard to faith or morals.

There remains one other position to fall back upon, for
those who may be inclined to regard the legislation of the
Index as unsuited to the present day ; they may maintain
that, in the social conditions prevailing at present, everyone
is under a necessity of reading whatever he may lay hands
upon.

This position may be false, but it is consistent ; how far
it is true or false, I shall discuss later on. What I would
insist on here is, the admission which is forced from
everyone imbued with the true Catholic spirit, that the
non-observance of the laws of the Church forbidding the
faithful, under severe spiritual penalties, to read books of a
character dangerous to faith and morals, is a great calamity,
even though it be the less of two evils, one or other of which
we cannot avoid.

III.

I propose now to consider in order the two main
arguments of those who hold that in admonishing his flock
of their obligations in this matter, a pastor of souls in
Ireland does well to confine himself altogether to the
obligations arising from the natural law. The first and
principal of these reasons, as it seems to me, is based on
the contention that the faithful in this country are not
bound by the Kules of the Index or any similar legislation ;
not even by the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis, as far as it
regards the reading of books. Of course, if these laws do

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 115

not bind in Ireland, it would be criminal folly on the part
of a pastor to teach his flock that they are actually in
force.

It is due to those who maintain that the faithful in
Ireland are not bound by these laws, to mention here the
modification which they are careful to attach to their
opinion. They do not say that these laws are not in force,
or do not bind ; they are in force, and, do bind, but only
radically, remotely, or, as some say, in actu primo ;
formally, proximately, or in actu secundo, they are not
obligatory. The net result of which is, that, as a matter
of fact, in Ireland one may read heretical or infidel books
to one's heart's content, without committing any sin of
disobedience to ecclesiastical authority, or incurring any
ecclesiastical penalty ; although one must be always careful
to say that these laws are in force, and bind our consciences
in some way which imposes on us no actual restraint. They
are binding on us in the same way as the law of fasting
in Lent binds one who has been duly dispensed from its
observance, — an obligation which, as long as the dispensation
lasts, does not place the slightest -restraint on the appetite
of the person concerned.

I cannot feel satisfied that in this country the laws
of the Church which forbid indiscriminate reading,
are of so ineffective a character. My reasons are the
following : —

When a law has been duly promulgated, it binds those
for whom it was intended, so that they are guilty of disobe-
dience if they refuse to conform to it, unless in so far as the
legislator may have consented that they should not be so
bound. This is a first principle,so far, at least, as ecclesiastical
law is concerned ; the rulers of the Church do not get their
authority from the people, nor can the faithful, of themselves,
ever make null and void any act of ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion.

Now, the Eules of the Index and the Constitution Apos-
tolicae Sedis have been duly promulgated for Ireland ; nor
has the Pope consented in any way that these laws should

116

not be operative generally. If this be so, it follows that in
Ireland we are bound by this portion of the Canon Law
just as much as by any other ; we must obey, unless we get
a dispensation, or unless in particular cases we may presume
on the indulgence of the Holy See.

With regard to the greater portion of this argument,
there is not, I imagine, any difference of opinion among
educated Catholics. It is not denied that the laws in
question have been promulgated for Ireland ;l nor that, once
promulgated, the consent of the Pope is required to exempt
us from the necessity of actually observing them. The
whole question turns on this one point, — whether or not the
Pope has consented in some way or other that the Rules of
the Index should not be in force with us, formally and
proximately in the sense explained.

Now, there are various ways in which a legislator may
consent to exempt his subjects from the necessity of actually
complying with a law duly promulgated. He may do so
expressly, or tacitly, or legally ; and there is, in addition,
what is known as presumed consent.

1. Consent is expressed by some external sign, such as a
spoken or a written word, a nod, or any other such per-
ceptible manifestation. Dispensations are ordinarily given
in this way ; and when a legislator wishes to abrogate a law,
he does so usually by publicly proclaiming it to be his will,
that after a certain time the law in question shall cease to
exist. Needless to say there has been no such general
abrogation of all the Rules of the Index or of the Con-
stitution Apostolicae Sedis ; nor has there been any
general dispensation given for all in Ireland, though express
dispensations of a more or less limited character have been
procured by many individuals.

1 ' Nous disons que 1'Index remain n'a pas en besoin d'etre promulgue dans
les provinces du monde chretien, pour y devenir obligatoire. En effet, les
Souverains Pontifes en promulguant 1'Index a Rome, ont insere une clause qui
fait qu'il n'est pas neceseaire de promulguer 1'Index dans les provinces du
monde chretien.1 Anakcta Juris Pont., 6 ser., col. 1,725. Comp. Icard , 6th ed.,
vol. i., p. 178.

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 117

2, Tacit, like express consent, is actually present in the
mind of the consenting party; but, whereas the latter is
manifested externally by positive signs, the former — that is,
tacit consent — is made known by silence or the absence of
any positive manifestation. In our dealings with men it
often happens that we are made aware of the mind and
intentions of others by what they do not say or do, as well
as by what they positively express. Not that silence gives
consent in every case ; it does occasionally ; when, for
instance, a superior sees one of his subjects acting against
the words of the law, and refrains from admonishing him,
without having any special reason for so abstaining. If a
father sees one of his boys abstracting a sum of money from
the paternal purse, and does not interfere to prevent the
abstraction, though he can do so without inconvenience, the
boy knows well that he has his father's permission. The
Pope or any other ecclesiastical superior may do in like
manner. As a matter of fact, there are certain liturgical
laws — such as the rubric which prescribes that a cup of
unconsecrated wine be given to the faithful after communion
—which have been so abrogated. The Congregation of
Rites and the Pope are aware that this rubric is not
observed either in Rome or anywhere else; they could,
without the least inconvenience, insist on its observance;
they do not insist, and thereby show sufficiently what their
will is in the matter.1

Now, it seems beyond question that the Rules of the
Index have been and are modified in some particulars by a
tacit consent of this kind on the part of the Holy See.
Thus, for instance, the tenth Rule forbids the publication of
any book or manuscript whatever, until it has been sub-
mitted to ecclesiastical authority and the publication
authorized. In 1848 this enactment was modified for the
Papal States by Pius IX., who decreed that it should apply
only to such publications as treat of religious matters. The
modification was never expressly extended to the whole

1 Missale Rom., Ritus celebrandi, x,, 6, in fin.. Rituals Rom., Ordo
administrandi Euch., i ; O'Kane on the Ritual, n. 649,

118 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Church ; but everyone understands, not without reason, that
this is the sense in which the Holy See wishes the law to
be interpreted over the whole world.

It is equally certain that the authorities in Rome do not
consent tacitly that the faithful should be free to disregard
all the Eules of the Index. Whenever they have had a fair
opportunity of making their mind known about the matter,
they have invariably insisted that these Eules are every-
where still in force. This must mean, at least, that there
are some portions of these laws with regard to which the
Pope must not be understood to consent either expressly or
tacitly that the faithful may consider themselves free to
disregard them. He may know what is going on, and yet
make no protest ; but is he free to admonish his children
without doing more harm than good to their souls?
How many material sins would he thereby convert into
formal? There is such a thing as economic silence; it is
practised by prudent men in Church and State, as well
as in the family circle, and it is very different from
tacit consent or connivance, which supposes the superior
to be physically and morally in a position to make
known his mind. One is not morally in that position
when one cannot speak without exposing to danger
what one holds dear, — to a danger, perhaps, exceeding
that which, by remaining silent, one does not strive to
prevent.

If, therefore, the Eules of the Index are modified some-
what, though not altogether withdrawn, by the tacit consent
of the Holy Father, how is one to know how far the modifi-
cation extends ? By making out, as best one can, the facts of
the case ; by considering these in the light of the principles
by which rulers are guided in giving their consent tacitly to
a modification of an existing law ; and by consulting the
experts who have given any opinion on the matter. It
seems to me that as far as those publications are concerned
in which heresy or infidelity is propounded directly, the
indiscriminate reading of which is the evil we have most
to fear, there can be no difficulty. No expert would
dare to assert that the Holy Father tacitly permits the

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 119

second clause of the Apostolicae Sedis to remain a dead
letter.1

3. Legal consent is that by which customs are authorized.
It is contained in the Canon Law, in which there is an
enactment to the effect that the Church does not insist on
her legislation, whenever it is opposed to the customs of a
community, provided these customs be reasonable, and have
a legitimate prescription.2

1 It does not seem unreasonable to say that, in addition to the modification
of Rule 10, referred to in the text there is tacit consent of the Holy See for

the following changes : —

Rule II. seems to be withdrawn, as far as regards books written by heretics,
and not treating of religious matters. Neither in Rome nor anywhere else does
anyone consider himself bound to abstain from reading a work on Mathematics,
or a political or social article in a new spaper, merely because it was written by
a Protestant, and not examined by Catholic theologians and approved by a
bishop. But, what everyone does everywhere, — even the law-givers with their
officials and intimate friends, — may be said to be tacitly permitted by the
authorities.

Rule IV. has been modified so far as not to bind the faithful any longer to
get from their bishops permission to read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue,
when the copy of the Bible they wish to use has been published in the authorized
manner, either with the approbation of the Holy See, or (if it have Catholic
notes) with that of the bishop. Some canonists contend that Benedict XIV.,
and later on (in 1836) the Congregation of the Index, expressly authorized this
modification (see Bouix, De Curia Rom., pp. 554, &c.; Craisson, vol. i., p. 737).
Others (Analecta Juris Pontif., quoted by Craisson, 1. c.) contend that the
modification is not expressly contained in these documents. It seems to me
that in this matter it is not unreasonable now to say that we have the tacit
consent, at least, of the Holy See. The reason for this view is the universal
practice that exists at Rome and elsewhere.

Rule V. has reference to such works as dictionaries, concordances, &c.,
compiled by heretics ; it is modified in the same way as II. ; the reason is the
same in both cases. The reading of books of controversy, written in the vulgar
tongue by Catholic authors, is forbidden by Rule VI., in the same way as the
reading of the Bible is by Rule IV. These two Rules seem now to be modified to
the same extent.

Rule VIII. regards such books as are good in the main, but incidentally
favour heretical or infidel opinions. Tn accordance with Rule X., as it was
understood originally, works of that kind could not be published without the
permission of the ordinary. Rule VIII. permits him to allow the publication,
but only after the work has been expurgated. Now Rule X. has been modified,
as we have seen, so that for the publication of such books episcopal permission
is no longer necessary, at least when the work does not deal with religious
matters ex proposito. Is it not reasonable to suppose that this modification of
Rule X. carries with it a modification of VIII., so that it would be no longer
forbidden to read such books without a dispensation ? The latter modification
is not, I am aware, necessarily contained in the former ; but would anyone in
Rome ever think it forbidden to read an excellent history or a work on art
merely because it contained one sentence in which an heretical opinion was
incidentally expressed? Icard (vol. i. , p. 102) quotes Schmalsgrueber,
Reiffenstuel, Layman, "Weistner, Engel, Pichler, and even Billuart, in some
sense such as this.

2 L. 1. Deer. tit. 4, de constietudine, c. II, cum tanto.

120 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

It might not unreasonably be contended that with us in
Ireland the community has for many years paid no attention
to the Rules of the Index, with the exception, perhaps, of
such as regulate the publication of books treating of religious
matters, and the reading of unauthorized versions of the
Bible in the vulgar tongue. I do not deny that such has
been and is the case ; I deplore the fact, and this is why
I resolved to call attention to the matter. But, will
anyone maintain that the Holy See regards this custom as
reasonable ?

M. Icard says : ' The custom alleged [in certain places on
the Continent] has been reprobated by the supreme Pontiffs ;
whence, under that aspect, it lacks a necessary condition.
Moreover, it is unreasonable, inasmuch as it exposes the
faithful to the greatest danger of corruption in faith and
morals.'1 It is well known that this is the teaching of all
modern canonists.2

Hence, those who in Ireland read books or periodicals in
which heretical or infidel doctrines are propounded of set
purpose, have no right, in justification of their practice, to
rely on custom or the legal consent of the Pope. But it has
been already shown that they have as little right to rely on
his express or tacit consent, — unless in so far as they may
have got a special dispensation. Accordingly, if their
conduct be justifiable at all, it must be by reason of what
is known as the presumed consent of the Holy Father, — the
only form of consent that remains to be examined. As a
matter of fact, I believe it is in virtue of this presumed con-
sent that those who incline to liberal views in this matter

1 Praelectiones Juris Can., vol. i.t p. 178.

2 Writing for the United States, Dr. Smith says : ' As to custom abrogating
the laws of the Index, Reiffenstuel very justly points to the fact that, so far
fiom being tolerated by the Roman Pontiffs, these customs have been expressly
and repeatedly condemned by them, and are therefore abuses.' Elements of
Ecclesiastical Law (6th ed.), vol. i., p. 275, p. 503.

In an article in the AnaUcta Juris Pontlficii (4th series, col. 1, 402) I find
the following : — ' Quand bien meme on trouverait que certains pays n'ont pas
observer 1'Index, cela ne prouverait rien centre le droit ; vu que 1'obligation
d'observer la loi subsiste, d'autant plus que les coutumes contraires n'ont pu
devenir legitimes a aucune epoque ; ces coutumes ont 6te cent f ois abroguees
par les souverains Pontifes qui ont fait publier de nouvelles editions de 1'Index
jusqu'a nos jours. La volonte du legislateur etant bien connue, il n'y a pas
lieu de faire appel a la coutume.'

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 121

justify their position, for which reason, and because this
portion of the question presents special difficulties, I think
it better to reserve it for special treatment in the next
section,

IV.

When an ecclesiastical law commands or forbids any-
thing, if one cannot comply with the obligation without
suffering an extrinsic and accidental loss, — a loss propor-
tionate to the nature of the obligation, — -and if there is
not time or opportunity to go to the superior and get a
dispensation, it is admitted that one is justified in such
circumstances in presuming that the superior does not wish
to urge his authority, and consents that one should be free
to disregard the law. This is what is known as epieicheia —
equity. We nv y always presume that our superiors allow
us to do what ; reasonable in the circumstances. In this
connection St. Thomas observes : —

It often happens that it is useful for the public weal that
something should be done, as a rule, although in some cases it is
very injurious. Since, then, the legislator cannot have every
single case in his mind, he proposes his law in accordance with
what occurs most frequently, intending the common good.
Hence, if a case should occur in which the observance of such a
law would be injurious to the common weal, the law is not to be
observed. Thus, ,if in a beleagured city there were a law pre-
scribing that the gates should remain closed, it would be useful
for the common safety, generally speaking. If, however, it should
happen that the enemy were in pursuit of some of the citizens by
whom the city is guarded, it would be most injurious to the city
if the gates were not opened ; and so, in that case, the gates
should be opened, contrary to the words of the law, that the
public weal, which the legislator intended, might not suffer.

It must, however, be borne in mind that if the observance of
the letter of the law does not expose one to a sudden danger,
which it is necessary to provide against at once, it does not
belong to everyone to make up his mind as to what may be
useful or injurious to the city. This is reserved to the prince,
who, to provide for cases of this kind, has authority to dispense
in the laws. But if the danger should be sudden, not allowing
of delay so as to make it possible to have recourse to the superior,
this very necessity carries with it a dispensation, inasmuch as
necessity has no law.1

1 2, 2, (j. 96, a. 6 ; cf. 2, 2, q. 120, a. 1,

122 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

1. Accordingly, if it be really impossible, or very difficult,
either for the Irish Church in general or for individuals, to
observe the Rules of the Index, there can be no doubt that,
so far as this necessity extends, these laws cease to bind.1
The real question, therefore, is, whether there is or is
not any very great difficulty in the matter. It should be
borne in mind that the question is not whether now and
then an individual may be under some necessity of reading
an heretical author, in circumstances when it would be
altogether impossible for him to get a dispensation. No
one doubts of that.2 The question is, rather, whether in
every case there is such necessity in Ireland. Those must
be prepared to answer in the affirmative, who maintain that
no one now is ever bound in this country by this portion of
the Canon Law.

I am not prepared to take the responsibility of answering
this question, and of granting everyone in Ireland the
liberty which follows as a necessary consequence from
the state of things which such an answer implies. A priest
or layman goes into a bookseller's shop, or is attracted
by a book-stall at a railway station ; he sees exposed for
sale a volume, say, of Herbert Spencer's, or of the late
Professor Huxley's, or some periodical which contains an
article directly impugning the inspiration of the Bible, or
a translation of some of the works of Haeckel or Renan,
or even such a book as Gladstone's Studies Subsidiary to
Butler, or the Duke of Argyll's or Mr. Arthur Balfour's works
on the Foundations of Belief. What special necessity is there
to compel any ordinary Irish Catholic, priest or layman, in
such circumstances, to purchase any of these publications,
and peruse it quietly in the privacy of the railway carriage
or of the study ? Are we in Ireland under any greater
stress in relation to such matters than the educated

iThey cease to bind proximately, but continue to exist radically, in this
sense, that they do not require to be promulgated anew when the necessity
passes away. In cases of dispensation and epieicheia, the law is not abrogated,
but a certain person or community is exempted for a time from the necessity of
observing it. This is true also of custom, which, according to the better
opinion, has the effect of suspending, but not of abrogating, the law.

2 St. Alph., 1. 7, n. 283, in fin.

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 123

Catholics of Paris, Home, or Vienna ? But these latter are
not exempt from the necessity of actually conforming to
the Rules of the Index, nor from the censures contained in
the second clause of the Bull Apostolicae Sedis.

2. If there is any difference between the position of
Irish Catholics and the faithful in other portions of the
Church, with regard to the reading of. such books as have
just been mentioned, and in the circumstances that have
been described, it is this, that in Ireland, England, and the
United States, few educated Catholics, lay or clerical, have
any difficulty about reading such publications, as long .as
they can make up their mind that their faith is not in much
danger; whereas, in France and Italy priests and pious
laymen would not do so without permission. Here no one
thinks it necessary to observe the laws of the Church on the
matter ; there the same laws are observed, at least by the
sanior pars fidelium. Is an individual bound to observe a
law, where no one but himself pays any attention to the
enactment ?

This, as it seems to me, is the real core of the whole
question ; the only way in which the liberal opinion may be
defended with the least appearance of plausibility ;— so far,
at least, as that opinion allows all the faithful to read indis-
criminately all kinds of books, even those which come under
the censure of the Apostolicae Sedis, provided the reader
does not commit a sin against the natural law. For
other reasons, — as, for instance, the impossibility of provid-
ing a staff sufficient to supervise the publication and sale of
books and periodicals, in accordance with the letter of
Eule X., it may be necessary in Ireland to do some things
which are not in conformity with the Rules of the Index ;
but with regard to the private purchase and reading of
heretical or forbidden books, for mere curiosity, or to see
what the authors have got to say, apart from what has
been said in the last paragraph, there is no reason why an
ordinary Catholic should not observe the letter of the law in
Ireland any more than in Italy. And for those whose duty
it may be to make themselves acquainted with such
literature, there is no more reason here than there is in

124 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Rome why they should not get a dispensation. Of course,
a sudden emergency may arise; but I refer to what is
done freely, without any particular stress or cause, rather
than to cases of sudden emergency.

Is it, then, to be admitted as a principle capable of
universal application in law, that whenever an enactment
has been duly promulgated, but is not observed by the
majority of the community, the minority of the same com-
munity are free to disregard it. . St. Alphonsus writes l : —

The question is, whether, when it is not stated that it is the
will of the legislator to bind his people independently of their
acceptation of his law, an enactment of his is binding of itself,
without the people's consent. With regard to Papal laws, . . . the
second opinion, to which we subscribe, affirms [that such a law
is binding] . . . Some doctors limit [this] .. 1, ... 2, ... 3.
If the greater and more prudent [sanior J part of the people have
not received the law ; for, although those who do not at first
receive it are guilty of sin, if the custom has not yet lasted the
term required for prescription, nevertheless the rest are not
bound to the law. For it is presumed that the legislator does
not wish to bind them to observe a law which is not received
by the greater part [of the community]. So, the Salmant., with
Suarez, Pal., Tap., &c., with Busemb. and Lessius.

Here St. Alphonsus seems to lay down a universal
principle, to the effect that a minority may follow the
majority in disregarding any ecclesiastical law whatever.
True, he qualifies this by supposing the majority to be also
the sanior pars populi; but every majority thinks itself the
sanior pars ; and every minority must of necessity think the
majority with whom they do not agree, to be guided by
unsound principles. Accordingly, that an ordinary law
should go into desuetude, it is sufficient that the custom
of not observing it prevail among the majority of the
community.

This line of argument is plausible enough. Nevertheless
I find it hard to believe that St. Alphonsus, or any other
theologian or canonist of repute, would propound the fore-
going principle as applying to all cases of ecclesiastical
legislation. Let me propose one case which actually
occurred.

i Theol. Mor., 1. i., un. 138-9.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the law of clerical
celibacy was disregarded by the greater part of the clergy in
some portions of the "Western Church ; there were even
dioceses in which it may be said to have been disregarded
altogether. ' The Bishop of Constance gave public permis-
sion to his priests to retain the wives to whom they had
been married. And the Bishop of Metz declared that he
was powerless to give effect to the decree against clerical
concubinage in his diocese.' l

The laws of the Church forbidding clergymen in Holy
Orders to marry, were, according to Jungmann, ' believed
to have been abolished by custom, and on that account such
marriages were considered lawful ; so much so that they
were contracted even publicly by clergymen without any
fear.' Jungmann quotes from the brothers Ballerini, editors
of the works of Eatherius, Bishop of Verona, in the middle
of the tenth century, the following passage : — ' If I were to
expel from the clergy those who have been twice married
[multinubos, the Holy Order itself being considered one
marriage], whom but boys should I leave in the Church ? '
And Guy, Bishop of Milan, was not ashamed to reply as
follows to those who denounced these abuses : — ' You say
that it is impossible for priests to commit adultery and offer
sacrifice ; which is true. But our priests, thank God, have
hitherto neither been nor been called adulterers, but care-
fully observe the precept of the Apostle, that they should be
men of one wife.' 2

Here, then, is a case in which all the conditions
mentioned by St. Alphonsus were fulfilled: an ecclesiastical
law, not observed by the greater part of those for whom it
was intended. It was so, at least, in many places; and
there is reason to believe this to have been the condition of
the Church at that time in Italy, France, Germany, and
even in England.3 Did the popes and the holy bishops who

1 Gilmartin, Church History, vol. ii., p, 7.

2 See Jungmann, Dissertationes, vol. iv., pp. 116 seq. , nn. 18, 19.

3 See in this connection, by all means, Jungmann's Dissertations for the
period, especially that on the Law of Celibacy (20th), and the following on the
Pontificate of Gregory VII. In December 1074 this Holy Pontiff wrote as

126 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

wept in those days over the condition of the Church, console
themselves by reflecting that these incontinent clergymen
were justified in following the practice of the majority ? If
a candidate for Holy Orders were to ask Abbot Hildebrand
in confession foi1 direction as to whether or not he could
lawfully get married and then take Holy Orders, what kind
of an answer do you think he would receive ?

This one example shows conclusively that the principle
which has been quoted from St. Alphonsus is not to be
understood as applicable to all cases. Indeed, when one
carefully considers the limitation already alluded to, — that
not only the major but the sanior pars communitatis must
have ceased to observe the law, — one sees that there is
some limitation insisted on by the saint himself. For,
curiously enough, the term ' sanior ' is not used when the
theologians and canonists are treating of custom. Why is
the word used in the one case, and not in the other, if it be
not intended to act in some way as a limitation ?

Since, then, the principle is not to be applied universally,
the question arises : where is one to draw the line ? I have
a notion that we might get light as regards this question
by considering another case to which it is allied.

When a general law of the Church is promulgated, it
may happen that it will be found very much unsuited to the
circumstances of certain districts. In that case, the bishops
are justified in permitting their flocks to disregard the law ;
but the canonists who allow this, are careful to add that the
bishops must proceed to lay the matter before the Holy
See. Should the Pope insist on the observance of the law,

follows to the faithful in Germany : — 'Audivimus, quod quidam episcoporum
apud vos commorantium, ut sacerdotes et diaconi et subdiaconi mulieribus com-
misceantur, aut consentiunt aut negligunt. His, praecipimus, vos nullo modo
obedire vel illorum praeceptis consentire, sicut ipsi Apostolicae Sedis praeceptis
non obediunt, neque auctoritati SS. Patrum consentiunt. Testante S. Scriptura,
facientes et consentientes par poena complectitur.' And the chronicler,
Lambertus, a contemporary, bears witness to the zeal with which the holy
Pontiff urged the bishops everywhere to make and enforce laws against
incontinent clergymen similar to the decree passed in the Synod of Rome, in
1074. 'Hoc decreto per totam Italiam promulgate, crebras litteras ad
episcopos Galliarum transmittebat, praecipiens ut ipsi quoque in suis ecclesiis
similiter facerent, atque a contubernio sacerdotum omnes omnino feminas
perpetuo anathemate resecarent,' &c. Jungmann, vol. iv., pp. 272-4.

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 127

there is nothing for it but to obey;1 and he may be expected
to insist in all cases where customs contra legem would not
be tolerated by the Holy See.

Is it not reasonable to draw the line at the same point,
when the law is not observed by the greater part of the
community, whether there is question of a recent enactment,
or of an old statute which is beginning to fall into disuse ?
In the first case there can be little difficulty about allowing
the minority to be guided by the majority, until it is known
for certain that the Pope regards the non-observance of the
law as an abuse. A pari, in all cases where custom will not
be tolerated, individuals are not justified in presuming on
the consent of the Holy Father, merely because the majority
of the community are not observing the law.2

Now, it has been shown already that in this matter of
the Index all customs have been invariably reprobated by
the Holy See. It follows, therefore, that we are not justified
in presuming that the Pope allows us to read books in which
heresy is propounded, merely because the law is not observed
by the community generally. Indeed, I should like to know
whether the majority of Catholics 'in Rome or in Paris are
careful to comply with this portion of the Canon Law. If
so, they must get credit for more respect for the authority
of the Church than we are accustomed to give them. I
refer to the majority only ; but it is a majority of those who
are not outside the pale of the Church. Of course, many of
them are Liberals and anti-clericals ; still they are Catholics,
and count among the majority. If majorities were to be
calculated on the basis of reckoning those only who observe
the laws of the Church, it might be a question whether there
is in Ireland a majority who do not comply with the Rules
of the Index.

1 See Lehmkuhl, v. i., n. 126.

2 In this connection Lehmkuhl remarks very justly: — 'Leges, quae a
majore et saniore parte populi acceptatae non sunt, five civiles, sive ecelesiasticae,
reliquos ligare non censentur, nisi superior denuo cas iirgeat. Ita etiam ante
legitimum desuetudinis tempus legis obligatio cessare vel suspend! potest, quia

(a) legislator praesumitur nolle paucos obligare ad discrepandum a communitate,

(b) in iis circumstantiis praesumi saepe potest, propter difficultates legi advers-
antes epikiae locum esse.' T/ieol. Mor., vol. i., n. 127, 5. The italics in the
passage are mine.

128 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Let me here guard against being misunderstood. There
may well be other reasons for presuming on the consent of
the Pope in these and similar cases. There may be special
difficulties attaching to individual cases ; and, if so, there
might be room for epieicheia. My conclusion is limited to
the one consideration — of the law not being observed by the
majority. I do not see how this mere fact justifies one in
presuming on the permission of the Holy See. And I may
repeat here that in the vast majority of cases in which Irish
Catholics read heretical or infidel publications, there does
not seem to be any other consideration that could be
advanced in defence of their conduct.

To sum up briefly this portion of my case. The Kules
of the Index have been duly promulgated for Ireland, as
laws, by competent authority. Catholics, therefore, are bound
by them, unless in so far as they may have been relieved
by the consent of the legislature, •' In Ireland there is no
general dispensation ; neither express, nor tacit, nor legal ;
nor may we presume on a general permission. Hence,
every Irish Catholic who has not got a special dispensation,
and is not placed in any special position of urgent and grave
necessity, is bound under sin to conform to these Rules.
There is a censure of excommunication attached to the
violation of some of them — the reading of books in which
heresy is propounded of set purpose and not merely inci-
dentally, also of such publications as have been condemned
by name. This censure is incurred ipso facto ; it binds as
proximately and effectually — unless ignorance excuses — as
does the law' to which it is attached. Is there any man of
position in Ireland who will say that the second clause of
the Apostolicae Sedis is a dead letter in this country, and
may be practically disregarded as far as the reading of bad
books is concerned ? That clause, however, is but one of the
Rules of the Index, — the Rule which is of all others the most
important for safeguarding the faithful from the poison of
heresy and infidelity.

V.

But even though that it were admitted that the Index
binds in Ireland, it might still be doubted whether pastors of

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 129

souls would do well to admonish their people of this obliga-
tion. Economic silence, it has been already observed, is not
unknown in Church policy; and it is not wise to turn
material violations of the law into formal sins. This is a
very serious question, with regard to which a new policy
should not be inaugurated until the matter has been well
considered from all points of view.

1. This objection, serious as it undoubtedly is, applies to
other countries just as much as to Ireland ; yet canonists
elsewhere have not hesitated to raise the question of the
obligation of the Index, both in their books and in
periodicals. It is discussed by M. Icard in the text-book
which we use in this College ; indeed there is no text-book
in use anywhere in which the question is passed over in
silence. It was raised by Dr. Smith in America ; and when
in the first edition of his work that writer propounded liberal
opinions with regard to this obligation, he was called to
account by Dr. Quigley, in a periodical not at all so
restricted in circulation as is the I. E. KECOED. The
question has been fully threshed out by the editor of the
Analecta Juris Pontiftcii,1 and it was touched on more than
once in the pages of the Nouvelle Revue Theologique.

The authors of these books and papers were not unaware
of the evils that might flow from the policy of insisting on
this obligation ; they must have hoped for good effects more
than sufficient to counterbalance the evil. As for the neces-
sity of consideration, I admit it freely ; and only ask whether
we ought not at least to begin to consider. How or when
shall our consideration bear any fruit, unless we proceed to
an exchange of views ? And how shall this be done unless
some one begins ? It is not with a view to inaugurate a
new policy, so much as to start a discussion and exchange
of views — consideration of some practical kind — that the
question is raised by the present writer, who would be sorry
if his paper should come very much before the laity; nor
does he apprehend much danger on that score from its being

1 See the 4th Series, col. 1401, where the writer discusses the question of
the reception of the Index in Germany ; the 6th Series, col. 1724, where the
same question is discussed for Belgium ; col. 1761 for Portugal.

VOL. I. I

130 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

published in a periodical which circulates almost entirely
among priests.

2, As for the reasons there may be for allowing the
question to rest, lest by raising it material sins should
become formal, there is more than one aspect under which
this deserves to be considered.

In the first place, it is to be feared that the faithful are
not only not told of the obligation arising from Rules of
the Index, but that they are positively advised that there
is no such obligation. Of course, this advice, at most,
is but materially sinful ; but such a sin is a much greater
evil than is the mere reading of many books. Not that
this, or even a much greater evil, might not be permitted
to take its course unmolested, if there were sufficient reason
for not interfering ; but it is well to understand in what
precisely the evil consists with which we are just now
concerned. It is not only that dangerous and even bad
books were being freely read by the faithful in Ireland ; but
that it is in the air somehow that those who are capable of
judging are of opinion that such conduct in Ireland is not
a violation of any ecclesiastical law. To one who believes
that an ecclesiastical law does exist, — a law of such
importance as to exclude the possibility of a reasonable
custom to. the contrary, — this state of things, if true, must
have a gravity of a peculiar kind.

It may be well to observe here that, in this matter,
as in so many others, one can teach more effectually
by example than by precept. And though prudent economy
may require one to keep one's lips closed occasionally,
lest one should interfere with the bona fides of some
of the faithful, it does not demand that we ourselve0
should read bad books ; or, if we read them, that
we should in social circles proclaim aloud what we have
been doing. Here, again, of course, there is at most but a
material violation of the law ; but, surely, it cannot be so
very dangerous to remind the clergy of their obligations.
They will either be convinced of the obligation or they will
not. If they are convinced, there is little doubt but that
they will comply with the law ; and if they remain uncon-

THE INDEX IN IRELAND 131

vinced, they will know how to make up their consciences
before disregarding it.

When it comes to a question of preaching from the
pulpit or of writing to the newspapers, then, indeed, one
should be particularly cautious. One is then dealing with
people of whom many are in bona fide, and who may not be
disposed to receive and follow the light. Hence, before
taking any step of so public a character, it would be well to
wait for guidance from the higher authorities ; or, at least,
until the matter has been thoroughly threshed out by our
canonists and theologians. I, for one, do not recommend
any parish priest or curate to whom this paper may have
brought personal conviction, to proceed at once to force this
conviction on others from the pulpit or in the newspaper
press. It is different with regard to our own practice, as
well as with regard to the advice and admonitions we may be
called on to give to penitents, or which may drop from us
in conversation with the educated laity. In any case, I
admit that some damage may b'e done by the discussion
I am raising. It can only be, however, if readers of the
I. E. BECOBD are convinced that the doctrine I am advocat-
ing is practically certain ; and the improvement that would
gradually take place in the Irish Church from the operation
of such a conviction in the minds of the clergy, is so great
as, in my opinion, to far outweigh any harm that might also
accrue.

For, it is not the policy of speaking out, alone, that is
attended with danger to the community. The evils resulting
from economic silence are enormous, — witness the words
of Pius IX. and of the Synod of Maynooth, with which this
paper began. The Council of Trent was inspired by the
Holy Ghost to provide special means of combating these
evils ; it provided the Kules of the Index. Under the guid-
ance of the same Holy Spirit the chief pastors of the Church
have ever since maintained these Eules, going so far as to
denounce as abuses any customs to the contrary that may
have been brought under their notice. May it not be very
imprudent to continue to disregard safeguards provided and
maintained under the guidance of the Holy Ghost ? Is there

132 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

not danger on both sides ? Did not the Popes foresee the
many material sins that would be converted into mortal
offences by their refusal to tolerate in other places the
customs that prevail with us ?

No nation — not even Ireland, if there be any peculiar
privilege of indefectibility attaching to our national Church —
can afford to expose the faith of its children to the danger
arising from unnecessary reading of heretical and infidel
publications. There is no individual or class of individuals —
not even priests — who may not lose the faith ; or, what is
almost as bad, have their spiritual perception weakened, so
as to leave them practically without supernatural light.
Simple faith is, after divine charity, the greatest of all earthly
blessings ; it is the root, of which charity is the blossom, and
the bliss of heaven the fruit ; it goes far to bring heaven
down to earth. Ireland has often been represented as the
most miserable country on the face of the globe. Those who
say so have not seen or have not taken into account the
religious peace that is enjoyed by so many of the Irish poor,
their patience in times of trial, the confidence with which
they look up to the Almighty Father in life, and above all
at death. It is the result of their simple faith. Now, if
that faith is not extinguished, it is to be feared that its lustre
is very much dimmed in Ireland, among those who read
without scruple and without necessity books in which
heretical or infidel opinions are broached ; and this dimness
may easily grow into darkness. The prayers of St. Patrick
are no guarantee that we also may not fall away from the
faith ; other nations have had their apostles and martyrs
no less than we. Economic silence may have its advantages,
but it is not without its dangers. God grant us light to discern
on which side the greatest danger lies.

W. M'DONALD.

[ 133 ]

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF 'THE
IMITATION OF CHRIST '?

II.

WHILE the great religions movement which I have
endeavoured to portray was in process of develop-
ment, while Gerard Groot was evangelizing Holland by
his preaching, and with the aid of Florentius Radewyn
was bringing into existence the holy confraternity which
culminated in the formation of the Congregation of Common
Life, and the founding of Windesheim, a child was born in
the far east of Bhineland who was destined to occupy a
foremost place in the mighty work of regeneration, and to
bequeath to posterity a book and a name undying in the
history of Christendom. This child was Thomas a Kempis.

In the wide expanse of country between the Ehine and
Mease, not very far from Dusseldorf, lies a small town named
Kempen, in the diocese of Cologne, and in it there lived in
those days a pious couple, John Haemerken and his wife
Gertrude. Not amongst the ranks of the nobility or gentry,
but in the lowliest path of life, this worthy pair earned their
bread by the sweat of labour, and reared their children in
poverty, and in the fear and love of God. John Haemerken
was a simple artisan, and his wife no higher in rank than
himself. So far as we can ascertain he was probably an
artificer in metal, an industry specially cultivated in Kempen
from time immemorial to the present day. The word
Haemerken, or Haemerlein, as it is sometimes written,
means in German ' a little hammer,' and very likely, after
the custom of those simple times, indicated his calling. In
the well-known Latin editions of Thomas's works the name
is translated into ' Malleolus.'

Tradition tells us that Gertrude kept a school for little
children. If we may take the progress of her sons in holiness
as an index of her solid piety, it must have been great
indeed. History is clear respecting two sons of this worthy

134

pair — John, born about the year 1365 ; and Thomas, who
first saw the light about the year 1380. A faint rumour
alludes to another son, Gobelinus, — probably older than
Thomas, who, like his brothers, gave himself to the service
of God, and lived and died in the odour of sanctity in the
monastery of Mount St. Jerome, at Hulsbergen. John, the
eldest son, had gone from Kempen to Deventer before the
time when we have any information concerning Thomas,
and there joined the Brotherhood of Common Life. Thomas,
born as we have stated about 1380, remained under the
care and tuition of his parents, aided by the teaching of the
grammar school of Kempen, until he was thirteen years of age.
Then he too betook himself to Deventer to join his elder
brother. Deventer, it should be remembered, besides the
attractions it possessed for him from being the head-quarters
of the Congregation of Common Life, amongst whom John
a Kempis was enrolled, was in those days a noted centre of
learning in Holland, and was much more accessible to the
inhabitants of the adjacent countries than Paris or the
German universities.

Let us glance at the map, and think how the little youth
— child, indeed — made the long and arduous journey from
Kempen to Deventer. History tells us nothing of that
pilgrimage, for such it must have been — how much he
travelled by land, how much by the Rhine ; but assuredly
all can sympathize with the good parents in the anguish
they must have felt in parting with their boy as he set forth
alone upon the wide world. So tender in years and poor in
all worldly resources, the child needed an earnest faith in
Providence. His good parents had taught him to trust in
Heaven, and that confidence was not in vain. Certain it is,
from his own account, that to Deventer Thomas came, and
sought his brother John. Disappointment awaited the
youth. John had gone from Deventer, and was then at
Windesheim, full twenty miles away. To Windesheim he
journeyed and was tenderly received by his elder brother.
Fortified with an introduction from him to Florentius
Eadewyn, he returned to Deventer. He tells us how kindly
that holy man received him, and all he did to provide

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST ' 135

for his immediate wants. John a Kempis was already a
brilliant light amongst the congregation of Windesheim, and
doubtless his recommendation obtained for his youthful
brother a favourable reception, enhanced by the intelligence
and fine disposition of the boy.

Scanty as the materials of our information about Thomas
a Kempis are up to this epoch, from thenceforth they are far
otherwise. It is impossible to read his works attentively
without finding ample details which indicate step by step
his subsequent career. The difficulty lies rather in the
selection of the most salient and interesting points. To
begin, let us see the impression made upon the youthful
aspirant by the example he beheld amongst the Congregation
of Common Life. We shall take his own words : —

Having come in my youth to Deventer to pursue my studies,
I sought my way to Windesheim, to visit the Canons Eegular
there, amongst whom I found my own brother. By his advice
I was led to seek the acquaintance of a certain curate of the
Church of Deventer, named Master Florentius, a most devout
and excellent priest, the fame of whose holiness had spread to
the northern parts of Germany, and .whom I had already been
drawn to love. The crowd of students who assembled round
him when he celebrated the divine Mysteries sufficiently denoted
the high estimation in which he was held ; for he was noble in
presence and speech, and pleasing to all beholders, a true servant
of God, an obedient and devoted child of our Holy Mother
Church. The reverend father received me most kindly, and,
moved by charity, kept me awhile in his own house. He also placed
me in the school, and provided me with books needful for my
studies. Finally he obtained for me hospitality with a certain
excellent lady, who treated me and other clerics with the greatest
benevolence. In the holy company of Florentius and his brethren
I had before me daily examples of the most edifying kind, which
excited my warmest admiration. I reflected on the regularity of
their lives, and upon the words of grace which flowed from their
lips. Never, within my recollection, have I met such men as
those, — so fervent, so pious, so animated with charity towards
God and their neighbour. Living amongst seculars they were
in every respect wholly unworldly, and appeared perfectly
indifferent to all things of earth. Dwelling at home in peaceful
retirement they devoted themselves to the copying of books, to
pious reading and meditations, only relaxing their hours of labour
by the utterance of ejaculatory prayers. Every morning after
matins they assembled in the church, and there during the

136 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

celebration of Mass, prostrate in humble attitude, they raised
their hands and souls to God, pouring forth their prayers and
sighs, imploring His mercy through the intercession of the
saving Victim.

The founder and first spiritual director of this most excellent
Congregation was Florentius Eadewyn. This great Master,
adorned by every virtue and filled with divine wisdom, had truly
studied the Lord Jesus Christ, and together with his priests and
clerics strove humbly to imitate the manner of life of the Apostles.
All were united, heart and soul, in Almighty God. What each
possessed was given to the common fund, and using a frugal fare
and humble raiment they dismissed from their minds all solicitude
about the future. Consecrating themselves with willing hearts
to the service of God all obeyed absolutely their Eector or his
Vicars, and accepting obedience as their fundamental rule strove
with their utmost vigour to conquer themselves, to resist their
passions, and break down self-will ; all the while earnestly begging
that they should be severely reprimanded for any faults or
negligences into which they might happen to fall.

It is needless to say how rich in grace and in the spirit of
true devotion were these holy men. Their words and example
edified many, and the patience with which they endured the con-
tempt of the frivolous moved numbers to despise the false joys of
this world. Those who had formerly scorned them and judged
their lives as ignoble and foolish, presently converted to God,
touched by conscience and experiencing the grace of devotion,
confessed that these men were manifestly true servants and
friends of the Lord.

Thus, crowds of men and women, despising all worldly
gratifications, turned themselves to God, and strove, under the
guidance of Florentius, to obey the precepts of the Church and
devoutly practise works of mercy towards the poor. All his
brethren, clinging to the words of life, aided the holy master, and
like brilliant stars in the firmament shone forth amidst the
darkness of a decaying world. Some amongst them, priests
distinguished for sacred lore, preached with great ardour in the
churches, and by their exhortations the faithful were instructed
unto justice, hearing the Word of God and doing good works.

Such were the impressions made on a Kempis' mind
during nearly seven years which he spent at Deventer
prosecuting his studies in preparation for the religious
life he had chosen. We are indebted to his pen for a
touching history of his companions there, whose holy
edifying lives prepare us for the great spiritual treatise —
The Imitation — which later in life he put together. In

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 137

truth the sentiments and teaching of that book are fore-
shadowed in all we read of the life he witnessed at
De venter, and later at Mount St. Agnes and Windesheim.
In my former essay I have entered into many details on
this subject, which the brief space now at my command
obliges me to omit.

Besides Florentius Thomas's special friends at this time
were Arnold van Schoonhoven, Boehm, Gronde, Berner,
Brinkerinck, Brune, Gerard of Zutphen, Van Buren,
James of Viana, and John Ketel.

In the year 1399 Thomas was nearly twenty years of
age, and then, as he tells us, he betook himself to the
Monastery of Mount St. Agnes, near Zwolle (one of the
affiliated houses of Windesheim), where his brother John
was Prior, and earnestly besought admission. This was
the year preceding the death of Florentius, and we have
reason to believe that this step was taken by his advice
and under his direction. Certain it is that he was admitted,
and there commenced the long career of religious life which
ended only with his death, in 147.1. We may imagine the
joy with which the brothers met on this touching occasion,
realizing the words with which Thomas opens his first
sermon to the Novices : ' Behold how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.'
Thomas, entering Mount St. Agnes in 1399, was invested
as a member of the Order in 1408. According to the con-
tinuator of the Chronicle of Mount St. Agnes he was
ordained five years later, in his thirty-third year.

Here commences to develop, for those who ponder over
his works, the beautiful picture of the life of Thomas
a Kempis. It is only there we can realize what manner
of man he was, — how simple, and yet profound, — how
merciful to others, although so perfect himself, — what a
priest—preacher — confessor — master of novices — historian
— and bright example of all virtues. Then it becomes easy
to understand how he, so keen to appreciate and proBt by
all he saw, could reap the harvest of holiness, and garner
in The Imitation the pith and philosophy of virtue.

It would scarcely repay my reader were I to reproduce at

138 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

any length the Chronicle of Mount St. Agnes, detailing the
early struggles and poverty of the new monastery, the
subsequent increase of its resources and members, their
edifying lives and deaths, the indomitable courage and
perseverance of its first Prior, John a Kempis, and of his
successors, William Vornken, Theodoric Olive, and others,
who brought the Institution to completion and prosperity.
I must even omit all account of the generous assistance
given in the hour of need by earnest friends, such as
Everard Eza, the skilled physician to whom a Kempis
attributes his rescue from a dangerous illness. Yet his was
a wondrous and touching story. Sceptic in faith he came
one day through curiosity to hear Groot preach in Deventer.
Smitten by the words of the great missionary, he 'who came
to scoff remained to pray,' and mastered by the influence of
the gifted evangelist entered religion, and after a life devoted
to the service of God and his neighbour, as Pastor at
Almelo, died in the odour of sanctity, in 1404.

John Cele, rector of the schools at Zwolle, the companion
of Groot's visit to Euysbroeck, was another of Thomas's
friends over whose career I would gladly linger, but I must
not tarry. Perhaps some who feel interested in this little
sketch will turn to the sources from whence I draw, and
satisfy their longing for a rare history of holy lives and deeds.
It is necessary, however, that I should direct attention now
to an event which I believe exercised a potent influence in
moulding the spiritual career of Thomas a Kempis, and con-
tributed materially towards fitting him for the compilation
of the great book — The Imitation of Christ

When John a Kempis, the first Prior of Agnetenberg,
resigned office, he was succeeded, in 1408, by William
Vornken, of Utrecht, a distinguished member of the Con-
gregation of Wiudesheim. This new Prior was evidently,
as we find by the account given of him by Thomas, and
more fully by Busch, a most remarkable man. If we turn
to page 35 of the Chronicle of Mount St. Agnes, and
chapter xxxiii. of the first book of the Chronicle of
Windesheim, we find details concerning Vornken which
forcibly remind us of The Imitation of Christ. In fact it

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 139

almost seems as if that book was the reflection of the holy
Prior's life, virtues, and teaching. The love of poverty,
contempt for all things earthly, persevering industry, and,
above all, deep devotion to the Holy Sacrament of the Altar,
were his leading characteristics. In addition, he was con-
spicuous for his profound knowledge of Holy "Writ, for
love of discipline, prudence in advising, patience with the
afflicted, kindness in consoling the tempted, endurance in
adversity, exemplary diligence in all things, love of solitude
and silence, compunction, meditation, gratitude to God for
all His blessings, devotion to the feasts of the Church, relish
for all things that appertain to God, trust in Providence in
the hour of trouble, sympathy with the ailing, and charity
in praying for the dead.

As Vornken remained prior for sixteen years, it will be
observed that he was Thomas's immediate Superior from
1408 until some years after The Imitation of Christ had
made its appearance, and the internal evidence of similarity
between this holy man and the book is irresistible and
significant, adding a link to the long chain of reasoning,
which as we shall later see, points to Thomas as the author.
This has been already noticed by Gmbe in his able history
of John Busch.

In the year 1424 John Vos van Huesden, Prior of the
Mother House of Windesheim, died. Shortly afterwards he
was succeeded by William Vornken, who was transferred
from Mount St. Agnes, and Theodoric Olive was elected to
fill his place. Although the precise date is not expressly
named in the Chronicle of Mount St. Agnes we have good
reason to believe that about this time Thomas a Kempis
was elected sub-Prior, and undoubtedly we find him
occupying that office in 1429.

In this latter year a grievous visitation fell upon the
brethren of "Windesheim and Mount St. Agnes. Owing to
a dispute concerning the appointment of a new bishop the
diocese was placed under interdict by the Holy See, and as
a large section of the laity resisted the decision of the Pope
(Martin V.), the Brothers were subjected to persecution
and obliged to fly for safety. Those from Mount St. Agnes,

140 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

leaving their convent in charge of a few lay brothers,
departed first to Hasselt, and thence, by a perilous voyage
on the Zuyder Zee, betook themselves to a monastery at
Lunenkerk, near Harlingen, in Friesland, to escape from
ill-treatment, and to carry oat needful reforms at their
destination. All did not remain at Luuenkerk. A certain
brother John, one of the oldest members of the community,
who, in spite of age and infirmity, wished to accompany the
others to Friesland, was sent home on account of his failing
health, and died in 1430.

In the following year Thomas a Kempis was himself
sent to assist his ailing brother John, who was then Hector
and Confessor at the Convent of Bethany, near Arnheim.
There he remained for fourteen mocths, until, in the month
of November, 1432, he closed his brother's eyes in the
peaceful sleep of a holy death. Just about that time
the storm of persecution against the brothers subsided,
the interdict was removed from the diocese (by Pope
Eugenius IV.), the exiles returned from Lunenkerk to
Mount St. Agnes, and shortly afterwards Thomas joined
them there. From this date until his death in 1471 he
remained at Agnetenberg, occupying at first the office of
Procurator, and later that of sub-Prior, to which he was
re-elected in the year 1448. So far as we can judge from
all the information available this latter period was one of
repose and devotion to the spiritual life. "We are indebted
to Thomas's anonymous and nearly contemporary biographer
for the information that he was once elected Procurator,
or Bursar. The Chronicle contains no such record ; yet
it seems but natural that the author of the essay On the
Faithful Steward, even mystical as it is in certain respects,
should have occupied at some time this post. According to
the same authority Thomas was relieved of this duty, which
was uncongenial to him, and re-elected as sub-Prior, in order
to enable him to devote himself unreservedly to the cultiva-
tion of the interior life.

Aided by the many interesting personal details which we
find in the memoirs of Thomas a Kempis written by his
anonymous biographer, by Ascensius,Tolensis, and Eosweyd,

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST ' 141

we can easily picture to ourselves his saintly old age at
Mount St. Agnes. The convent, which he remembered in
its commencement in poverty and hardship, was now com-
pleted and prosperous ; but those who had made it so, his
own brother included, had gone to their reward. To use his
own poetic words, often repeated in the obituary records of
his Chronicle, they had ' migrated,' and now rested with the
Lord ; while he, who had taught so many to enter the narrow
gate, and tread the thorny way of perfection, still lingered
on earth. But what an honoured old age! — 'It is good for
a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.' ' But
they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the
firmament, and they that instruct many to justice, as stars
for all eternity.'

We can picture a Kempis in our minds as his portrait
and the descriptions help us. A man of good figure, scarcely
under middle height, of dark complexion and vivid colour,
the forehead broad and high, the face a little elongated — a
noble head, with elevated crown, and piercing intelligent
eyes, always gentle and kind, lenient and charitable to the
weak, encouraging to the timid, occupied at all times with
his various duties, and unceasingly at work. We can think
of him at the altar, offering the Holy Sacrifice, burning with
the ardour which he infused into the Fourth Book of The
Imitation. Again, in the choir, singing the Holy Office,
standing erect — unsupported — almost raised from earth, with
eyes uplifted to heaven, and visage irradiated by holy awe
and delight. We can imagine him as he pours the words of
consolation into the ear of the weeping penitent, or points
out to the wavering the road to security. We can picture
him preaching, as he was ever willing to do, to the crowds
who flocked to hear him at Mount St. Agnes. We can
imagine him surrounded by the community, silent while
other topics are discussed, then bursting into eloquence when
God and His saints are named, and pouring forth in a limpid
torrent the words of wisdom.

Again, in the privacy of his little cell, scourging himself
with a heavy discipline, and chanting his favourite hymn
Stetit Jesus. We can picture him as he walked and conversed

142 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

with the brothers, suddenly feeling the inward voice of
God, and saying : ' Beloved brethren, I must go. Someone
awaits me in my cell.' Who the visitor to his cell was we
know from The Imitation, Where we can realize his com-
munion with God. We can picture him as he comes from
lauds, refusing himself further sleep or rest, and devoting
the dawn of morning to his writings. Idleness he abhorred;
Labour, as he tells us, was his companion; Silence his
friend ; Prayer his auxiliary.

Thomas had ever been an indefatigable writer, and copied
books innumerable, both for the use of the monastery and
for sale. He had written out the whole Bible in four great
volumes, also a large missal for the use of the brothers ; some
of the smaller treatises of St. Bernard; and moreover had
composed a vast number of spiritual treatises. How truly he
revered the work of the copyist we know from his twentieth
Concio, in which he writes as follows : —

Verily it is a good work to transcribe the books which Jesus
loves, by which the knowledge of Him is diffused, His precepts
taught, and their practice inculcated. Neither can it be doubted
that thou wilt be loved by Him, and amply rewarded if thou dost
diligently write out holy books for the honour and glory of God
and the good of thy neighbour. If he shall not lose his reward
who gives a cup of cold water to his thirsting neighbour, what
will be the recompense to him who by copying good books opens
unto others the fountain of eternal life ?

A Kempis' love for study was so proverbial that when
his portrait was taken he was represented sitting in the
open air, the buildings of Mount St. Agnes in the distant
background, while on the pages of a volume at his feet are
inscribed the words, ' I have sought rest everywhere, and
never found it, unless in a little nook with a little book.'

It is quite possible, with a little labour, to trace a Kempis'
spiritual progress in his works. The difficulty lies in select-
ing illustrations from the boundless field of choice. The
earlier stages are pictured in The Soliloquy of the Soul ; its
later development appears in The Imitation of Christ ; and
his final ascent into the realms of mysticism is manifested
in the opening chapters of his almost unknown essay on

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST* 143

The Elevation of the Mind. If space permitted I should
wish to tarry over this theme, to show by many illustrations
how completely and with what versatility he measured the
heights of spiritual elevation, fathomed the depths of human
feeling, and indicated the way to perfection. I might point
out his study of the virtues of poverty, humility, and patience,
as taught in The Three Tabernacles ; likewise his spiritual
exercises, his ideas of true compunction, of solitude and
silence, of mortification of self, of a good and peaceful life,
his instruction of youth, and of the novices and brethren
under his guidance. All these topics and many others are
exhaustively discussed in the second volume of his works ;
but it is impossible to enter upon them now.

The Imitation of Christ, the best known of his works,
represents less than one-tenth of the whole. There are not
a few amongst them which strongly resemble it, and fully
bear comparison with that great masterpiece. I only regret
they are not better known. All who study a Kempis' works
must love them for the truthfulness, simplicity, and unction.

In his latter days, from the time of his re-election as
sub-Prior until his death, he would seem to have been devoted
entirely to his favourite occupations — praying, reading,
composing, transcribing, teaching the novices, consoling
and directing those who sought his aid, and quietly jotting
down the simple records of his monastery. Meanwhile, the
years rolled by in calm and peace, as the Chronicle tells, and
Thomas was growing old. Not, indeed, that we can observe
in his manuscripts the signs of weakened sight or faltering
hand. It is said that he never required spectacles ; and the
codex of 1456, written when he was in his seventy-sixth
year, is as perfect as that of 1441, and quite a masterpiece
of caligraphic art.

Finally, we come to the last entry in his Chronicle. I
will give it here in its touching simplicity : —

In the year of our Lord 1471, on the feast of St. Anthony the
Confessor [February 12] , in the morning after High Mass, a
devout laic named John Gerlac died. He was a native of Dese,
near Zwolle, and nearly seventy-two years old. He had lived
with us for more than fifty-three years, in great humility,

144 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

simplicity and patience, and had endured much labour and many
privations. But, amongst other virtues which he possessed, he
was pre-eminent'for taciturnity, so much so that often he would
speak very little for a whole day, and even in his labours he gave
to others an example of silence. Shortly before his death he was
seized with apoplexy, and became in a measure delirious. He
was buried in our cemetery with the other laics.

So far as we know these were the last words ever written
by Thomas a Kempis. He himself died in the following
May, and the continuator of the Chronicle records the
events in these words : —

In the same year [1471], on the feast of St. James the Less
[May 1] , after compline, our Brother Thomas Haemerken, born
at Kempen, a town in the diocese of Cologne, departed from this
earth. He was in the ninety-second year of his age, the sixty-
third of his religious clothing, and the fifty-eighth of his priest-
hood. In his youth he was a disciple, at Deventer, of Master
Florentius, who sent him to his [Thomas's] own brother, who was
then Prior of Mount St. Agnes. Thomas, who at that period was
twenty years of age, received the habit from his brother at the
end of six years' probation, and from the outset of his monastic
life he endured great poverty, temptations, and labours. He copied
out our Bible, and various other books, some of which were used
by the convent, and others were sold. Moreover, for the edifica-
tion of young persons he wrote various little treatises in a plain
and simple style, but in reality great and important works, both in
doctrine and efficacy for good. He had a special devotion to
the Passion of our Lord, and understood admirably how to
console those afflicted by interior trials and temptations. Finally,
having attained a ripe old age, he was afflicted with dropsy of
the limbs, slept in the Lord in the year 1471, and was buried in
the east side of the Cloister, by the side of brother Peter
Herbort.

Such is the brief outline which I venture to offer of the
life of the great Thomas a Kempis. Those who seek to
understand his glory and true grandeur must study his
spiritual works. Lowly monk as he was we find in his
career and writings the characteristics of a master-mind, —
of one who, having realized the greatness of God, and
fathomed the shallow nothingness of this world, was enabled
to practise, and to teach as no other man ever taught before
or since (the Apostles excepted) the one great lesson, — that
in patient suffering we must imitate Christ if we would be

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 145

with Him in eternity. ' If any man will come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Having, then read and searched out all, be this our last
conclusion— that through many tribulations we must enter
into the kingdom of God.'

In my next communication I will commence to exhibit
the proofs which demonstrate the solid grounds upon which
I rest my belief, that, despite vexatious controversy,
Thomas a Kempis was the author of The Imitation of
Christ.

F. E. CEUISE, M.D.

ARCHBISHOP USSHER

AEEPEINT of A Discourse on the Religion anciently
professed by the Irish and British, by Archbishop
Ussher (Dublin : John Jones, 1815), contains a biographical
sketch of the most renowned of the Irish Protestant
Archbishops, to which the following note is prefixed by the
anonymous author : — ' In his life of the illustrious prelate,
he has carefully noted every circumstance, which, though
omitted by one biographer, has been recorded by another.'
From this account of his life we learn that the birth of
James Ussher took place in the parish of St. Nicholas,
in the City of Dublin, on the 4th day of January, 1580 ;
' a day much to be prized,' writes his enthusiastic
biographer, ' as on it Heaven gave to earth one of the
most valuable and useful characters that ever graced our
orb/

His father's family, originally named Neville, claim that
one of them came over from England as usher to
King John ; hence the distinctive family name. Arnold
Ussher, the Archbishop's father, himself a man of talent
and learning, was one of the six clerks in the Irish Chancery.
Another brother, Henry, was made Protestant Archbishop
of Armagh during the minority of his most distinguished

VOL. I. K

146 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

successor and nephew. His grandfather, on the mother's
side, James Stanihurst, was three times Speaker of the
Irish House of Commons and Recorder of Dublin. The
mother clung to the religion of her forefathers, and
died a Catholic at Drogheda. In his eighth year,
young Ussher was sent by his father to a school, then
opened by Fullerton and Hamilton, both Fellows of the
University of Glasgow. These gentlemen had been sent
over by King James to look after his interest amongst
the Protestant gentry of Ireland. When James became
King of England both were knighted for their services, and
Hamilton was afterwards created Viscount Clandeboye.

In 1§93, having arrived at the age of thirteen years, he
became ^a scholar of the recently-founded University of
' the Sacred and Undivided Trinity,' being still under the
direction of his former preceptor, Hamilton, who had been
elected a Fellow of Trinity. The first incentive to Ussher's
future fame as an historian came from that celebrated
passage of Cicero : ' Nescire quid antea quam natus sis
acciderit est semper esse puerum.' His mind was so much
impressed with the importance of this sentiment, that he
immediately commenced Sleidan's work,De quatuor Imperils,
and from that time he became constantly engaged in his-
torical researches. At the age of fourteen he began to collect
materials for his celebrated work of the Annals. When he
was but fifteen he had drawn up a chronicle of the Bible as
far back as the Book of Kings, and a parallel chronicle of
the heathen world.

In 1596 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and
two years after distinguished himself as respondent in a
philosophical disputation, which was held by the College in
honour of the Earl of Essex, on his arrival in Ireland as
Lord Lieutenant. On the death of his father about this
time, the family estate descended to him as being the eldest
son. As his estate was involved in much litigation, bur-
dened with the fortunes of seven sisters, and as so much
care would interfere with his literary labours, he resigned
it to his brother, reserving for himself only so much as
was necessary for his maintenance in college, and for the

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 147

purchase of books. This anonymous biographer informs us
that : —

When only eighteen or nineteen years of age he was
considered the most proper person to contend with Henry
Fitz Symonds, a learned and daring Jesuit, who was at that time
a prisoner in the Castle of Dublin, and who had challenged the
greatest and most learned champion in the controversies between
the Eomish and Eeformed Churches, to contend with him. This
challenge Ussher alone was found competent to accept. He
accordingly came forward to oppose this mighty boaster. A public
disputation ensued between them on the subject of Bellarmine's
Controversies, which was to be continued one day in every week ;
but this wily Jesuit soon found Ussher's wit too strong, his
arguments too forcible, his skill in disputation greater than he
imagined ; and, therefore, after the second conference, he declined
the combat, left the field of battle to the vanquisher, and fled
ingloriously.

The learned Protestant, Boyle, laughs at the whole story ;
the honest Protestant, Anthony Wood, says simply that
the Jesuit ' grew weary of disputing,' with his youthful
kinsman; a writer in Moreri's Dictionary scouts this tale,
and says that Ussher in his best days would not have been a
match for Fitzsimon.

The following is Fitzsimon's own simple account of the
controversy, in his Britannomachia, dedicated to Aquaviva,
his Father General :—

While I was a captive for five years in the Castle of Dublin,
I did everything in my power to provoke the parsons to a
discussion, except perhaps during the two years in which hardly
anyone was allowed to see me, so strictly was I guarded. Whenever
I knew that ihey were passing in the corridors, or the Castle
yard, I tried to see them, and by word or gesture to attract their
attention towards me. But they neither wished to look up at me
in the tower, nor did they pretend to hear me, when from the
Castle or the cell I challenged them in a stentorian voice. Once
indeed, a youth of eighteen came forward with the greatest
trepidation of face and voice. He was a precocious boy, but not
of a bad disposition and talent, as it seemed. Perhaps he was
rather greedy of applause. Anyhow, he was desirous of disput-
ing about most abstruse points of divinity, although he had not
yet finished the study of philosophy. I bid the youth bring me
some proof that he was considered a fit champion of the
Protestants, and I said that I would then enter into a discussion

148 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

even with him. But as they did not at all think him a fit and
proper person to defend them, he never again honoured me with
his presence.

On this Dr. Parr observes, that Fitzsimon living to know
our author better, terms him: Acatholicorum doctissimus.

In 1600, Ussher was appointed Proctor, was chosen
Catechetical Lecturer to the University, took the degree
of Master of Arts, and on the Ash Wednesday of the same
year defended a public thesis in philosophy with much
credit to himself. It was on the same day that the Earl
of Essex was beheaded — that ill-fated nobleman before
whom, as Lord Lieutenant, he had sustained his first public
discussion two years previously. Although under canonical
age, and even then appointed to give controversial lectures
at Christ Church, he was ordained on the Sunday before
Christmas, 1601, by his uncle, Henry Ussher, then
Protestant Archbishop of Armagh. He was soon afterwards
appointed afternoon preacher to Government, at Christ
Church. At this time the Lord Deputy and Council gave
directions to the Protestant ministers of Dublin to disperse
themselves through the different churches, and by their
sermons endeavour to communicate all necessary informa-
tion upon the subject of their religion to the Catholic
countrymen, who were reported, since the defeat of the
Spaniards at Kinsale, to have shown an inclination to
confirm to the enactment which required their attendance
at Church during divine service.

It is related that Ussher was for a time rather success-
ful in attracting a number of Catholics to listen to his
catechetical instructions. But suddenly, we are told —
' the operations of the Statute were suspended, the power of
the High Commission was no longer exerted to inforce its
observance, and Popery with all its evils, was again
permitted to return, and destroy the fair hopes which were
entertained of an early abundant harvest in the Lord's
vineyard.' Ussher loved the city of his birth, and wrote
thus in praise of it : ' Dublin, the city of my birth, is full of
people, and is most beautifully situated ; the river and the
neighbouring sea are full of fish.'

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 149

It is related that the English army which defeated the
Spaniards at Kinsale, anxious to render the country a
literary, as well as military service, subscribed the sum of
£1,800 to purchase a library for the University in Dublini
Ussher and his kinsman, Dr. Challoner, were selected to buy
the books.

In 1606, he was presented with the Chancellorship of
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, by Archbishop Loftus, who
was then Chancellor of Ireland. In the same year, he
again visited the metropolis of England, for the purpose of
examining and purchasing such manuscripts and books as
were necessary for him to consult in reference to English
history. During his stay in England at this time he
formed an intimate friendship with Sir Robert Cotton and
Mr. Camden, the two celebrated antiquarians of that age.
The latter was at this time employed in publishing a new
edition of his Britannia, to which, as he gratefully acknow-
ledged, he was enabled to make many important additions
from the information he received from Ussher respecting
the ancient state of Ireland.

On the occasion of his previous visit to England, Ussher
had made the acquaintance of the celebrated Sir Thomas
Bodley, who was at that time engaged in procuring for the
University of Oxford, that magnificent library, which has
since so deservedly perpetuated his name. In 1607, the
subject of our sketch was appointed professor of theology
in his Alma Mater. This chair he occupied for thirteen
years. In 1609, he wrote a treatise on the Termon or
Ancient Church Lands of Ireland. This was considered
a very learned disquisition, and fraught with much critical
research. As it referred to the Corban lands of England, as
well as Ireland, it was sent by him in manuscript to
Bancroft then Archbishop of Canterbury, and by him
presented to King James. Sir Henry Spelman was indebted
for his information on this subject to what he extracted
from the treatise of Ussher. He published part of it in the
first part of his Glossary, and mentions the source from
whence he derived it, in the following words : — ' Thus
copiously have I obscured a light, which that renowned

150 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Pharos of the learned world, James [Ussher], Bishop of
Meath, kindled for me.'

The Fellows of Dublin University unanimously elected
Ussher their Provost in 1610, when he had attained the
30th year of his age. This office, however, he did not find
himself free to accept, as it would interfere too much with
his literary occupations.

In this year he married Phoebe, the daughter of his friend,
Dr. Luke Challoner. This lady, it seems, was an heiress of
a considerable fortune, and her father on his dying bed
implored her never to connect herself with any other person
if Dr. Ussher should propose for her.

The couple appear to have enjoyed a happy married
life for the period of forty years. They had only one
child, a daughter, Elizabeth, who was afterwards married
to Sir Timothy Tyrrel. Hence, the Rev. James Ussher,
referred to by Dr. Milner, in his Tour Through Ireland,
as a convert to the Catholic faith, cannot have been Arch-
bishop James Ussher's ' immediate descendant.' Ussher
having occasion to visit England about the close of the year
1619, and having been suspected as favourable to Puritanism,
the Lord Deputy and Council gave him the following letter
to the Privy Council of England : —

The extraordinary merit of this bearer, Mr. Dr. Ussher, pre-
vaileth with us, to offer him this favour, which we deny to many
that move us, to be recommended to your Lordships : and
we do this the rather, because we are desirous to set him right
in his Majesty's opinion, who it seems hath been informed that
he is somewhat transported with singularities, andjmaptness to
be conformable to the rules and orders of the Church. We are
so far from suspecting him in that kind, that we may boldly
recommend him to your Lordships, as a man orthodox, and
worthy to govern in the Church when occasion shall be presented.
And his Majesty may be pleased to advance him ; he being one
that hath preached before the State for eighteen years ; and has
been his Majesty's Professor of Divinity in the University these
thirteen years, and a man who has given himself over to his
profession ; an excellent and painful preacher, a modest man,
abounding in goodness ; and his life and doctrine so agreeable, as
those who agree not with him are yet constrained to love and
admire them. And for such an one we beseech your Lordships
to understand him, and accordingly to speak to his Majesty ; and
thus with the remembrance of our humble duties we take leave.

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 151

When this character of Ussher had been read, James
sent for him, and after a long interview, he ended by
exclaiming : ' The knave Puritan is a bad man ; but the
knave's Puritan is an honest man.' Ussher had been
previously one of the King's Chaplains. To test his ability
as a preacher, James chose a text in the Book of Chronicles,
and desired him to expound it in his presence, ' which,' as
Ussher wrote to a friend, 'was very hard bones to pick.'
The bishopric (Protestant) of Meath was at this time vacant ;
and the King, to show his high opinion of him, without any
influence beyond his own free selection, nominated him to
the vacant see. While he was detained in England, before
his ' consecration,' a Parliament was convened at West-
minster, on the 1st day of February. Dr. Parr has the
following passages extracted from the diary of the bishop
elect : —

I was appointed by the House of Parliament to preach at
St. Margaret's, Westminster. Secretary Calvert, by the appoint-
ment of the House, spoke to the King that the appointment
might stand. The King said it was very well done. February 13,
being Shrove-Tuesday, I dined at Court ; and between four and
five I kissed the King's hand, and had conference with him touch-
ing my sermon. He said I had charge of an unruly flock to look
unto the next Sunday. He asked me how I thought it could
stand with true divinity, that so many hundreds should be tied,
upon so short a warning [lest some Catholics had been elected]
to receive the communion upon a day ; all could not be in charity ;
after so late contentions in the House, many must needs come
without preparation, and eat their own condemnation ; that
himself required all his household to receive the communion, but
not all the same day, unless at Easter, when the whole Lent was
a time of preparation. He bade me tell them I hoped they were
all prepared, but wished they might be better. To exhort
them to unity and concord ; to love God first, and then their
King and country; to look to the urgent necessities of the
times, and the miserable state of Christendom, with bis dat, qui
cito dat.

On the first Sunday in Lent he preached, taking as his
text. 1 Cor. x. 17. Having insisted on the union of the
members in the body and to the Head, he next very copiously
enlarges on the members being disunited rom those who

152 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

were not of the same body, the necessity of their being dis-
severed, especially from idolaters, which he endeavours to
prove Catholics to be. The house sent Sir James Perrot
and Mr. Drake to give him thanks, and to desire him to
print the sermon.

After his consecration and induction into the see of
Meath, by Primate Hampden, he preached before the
Lord-Deputy Falkland, on the text : ' He beareth not
the sword in vain,' strongly impressing on him the duty of
strictly enforcing the laws which had been made against
the Catholics. His own explanation of the discourse is
related in a letter addressed to Lord Grandison : —

The day that my Lord of Falkland received the sword,
I preached at Christ's Church ; and fitting myself to the pre-
sent occasion, took for my text those words in Romans xiii. :
' He beareth not the sword in vain.' I wished that if his
Majesty, who is, under God, our supreme governor, were pleased
to extend his clemency toward his subjects that were recusants,
some order notwithstanding might be taken with them, that they
should not give us public affronts, and take possession of our
churches before our faces. And that it might appear that it was
not without cause that I made this motion, I instanced in two
particulars that had lately fallen out in mine own diocese. The
one, certified unto me by Mr. John Ankers, preacher of Athlone,
thai going to read prayers at Kilkenny, in Westmeath, he found
an old priest and about forty with him in the church, who was
so bold as to require him, Ankers, to depart until he had done
his business. The other, concerning the friars, who were not
content to possess the house of Multifarnham alone (whance your
Lordship had dislodged them), but went about to make collections
for the re-edifying of another abbey, Mulengarre, for the enter-
taining of another swarm of locusts. Thirdly, I did entreat that
whatsoever connivance were used unto others, the laws might
be strictly executed against such as revolted from us, and not
suffer them without all fear to fall away from us. Lastly, I
made a public protestation that it was far from my mind to
excite the magistrates unto any violent courses against them, as
one that did naturally abhor all cruel dealings, and wished that

effusion of blood might be held rather the badge of the W of

Babylon than of the Church of God.

Again, November, 1626, we find the Irish Protestant
bishops assembled in the house of Primate Ussher,

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 153

unanimously agreeing with him in subscribing the following
protestation : —

The religion of the papists is superstitious and idolatrous ;
their faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical ; their Church,
in respect of both, apostatical ; to give them, therefore, a toleration,
or consent that they may freely exercise their religion and profess
their faith and doctrine, is a grievous sin."

Ussher also seems to have taken a very active part, as
Privy Councillor, in advising the suppression of convents,
friaries, Mass houses, &c. ; for Lord Falkland, in a letter,
which he wrote to him, dated April 14, 1629, refers to a
proclamation of this nature which was issued on the first of
that month, reminds him that he had assisted in the
consultations respecting it, and requests him to inquire into
some particulars of its operation. In reply, a return was
furnished of the Popish conventual houses at Raphoe ;
and May, 1629, the Privy Council addressed a letter to him
on the same subject, making some further inquiries, and
stating that they had given directions to his Majesty's
Attorney- General to proceed against the proprietors of the
houses mentioned by his Grace in his communications to
them.

Ussher had been appointed Archbishop of Armagh, in
1624, when he was forty-four years of age. He then took up
his abode in Drogheda, at the East Gate. Lord Stafford
wrote to Archbishop Laud, concerning the Protestant
Primate's palace : ' It is the best house I have seen in
Ireland. ' We are informed that he assembled the members
of his household to engage with him in devotional exercises
at six every morning, at eight every evening, before dinner
also, and before supper. He, moreover, delivered, every Friday
evening, a regular lecture for their fuller instruction in the
principles of the Gospel, in his private chapel : and on the
evening of Sunday he obliged his chaplains to expatiate on
the principal features of the sermon which he himself had
preached in the morning, in order to impress it the more
strongly on the minds of those who were inmates of his house-
He had the words, 'Man, remember the last day,' cut upon a
bank of grass in his city garden.

154 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

When the Lord Deputy Falkland was recalled to England,
Ussher attended him to the place of his embarkation ; and it
is related by his Protestant biographers, to the credit of both,
that when Falkland approached the Primate to bid him fare-
well, he first prostrated himself upon the earth, and implored
his blessing.

Father Fitzsimon relates that when Father Francis
Slingesby was lodged in the tower of Dublin, he was twice
assaulted by the prime pretended prelate, Ussher. ' The
second time he craved to begin, on both sides, in these
words : Be he in this instant damned of us both who varieth
by mouth from his conscience. The debate thereby was
interrupted, the said primeman relenting.' Protestant
writers give the credit to Ussher of having advanced Bedell
to the Provostship of Trinity College. They endeavour,
in vain, to defend the Primate from the charge of having
permitted excessive exactions and corruptions in his ecclesi-
astical courts, brought against him by this most worthy and
tolerant of the Irish Protestant bishops, Bedell. Ussher
attempts to justify himself as follows :—

Though I do not justify the taking of fees without good
ground, yet I may truly say of a great part of mine own and
of many other bishops' dioceses, that if men stood not more in
fear of the fees of the court than of standing in a white sheet, we
should have here among us another Sodom and Gomorrah.

In 1630, Downham, Protestant Bishop of Derry, pub-
lished a treatise on the final perseverance of believers in
their contest against sin. Ussher had furnished him with
some of the materials, and was, of course, favourable to the
publication. It must then, have been very grating to his
feelings to have received the Eoyal Mandate, procured
through the influence of Archbishop Laud, to suppress it.

About this time, he also received a circular letter from
Charles the First, in which it is stated that the King had
received information from the Privy Council of Ireland,
respecting the increase and growth of the Romish faction,
and the neglect of the Protestant clergy, ' who were not so
careful as they ought to be, either of God's service, or the

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 155

honour of themselves, and their profession, in removing all
pretences of scandal in their lives and conversation.' l

On the occasion of the national rising, in 1641, Ussher
with the greater number of the Irish Protestant bishops
fled to England. Bedell, the worthy Protestant prelate of
Kilmore, has left it on record how little reason they had to
apprehend any hurt or injury from their Irish Catholic
countrymen. The only harsh treatment that Ussher then
experienced was from a party of Welsh Royalists. They
dragged him and those that were with him from their horses?
and pillaged his luggage, including several chests of books
and valuable. MSS.

I know [said he to his daughter] that it is God's hand,
and I endeavour to bear it patiently, though I have too much
human frailty not to be extremely concerned, for I am troubled
in a very tender place, and He has thought fit to take from me
all that I have been gathering together these twenty years, and
which I intended to publish for the advancement of learning and
the good of the Church.

However, after some months, the greater portion of his
books and manuscripts were restored to him intact. On the
5th November of the same year, he preached a sermon at
Oxford on the Gunpowder Plot, which he essays to prove,
from some pamphlets, said to have been printed at Rome,
as having been devised there, and that prayers were offered
up at Rome for the prosperous success of it. The honest
Anthony Wood assures us that he could find no notice
of when or where thes3 incriminatory pamphlets were
printed. And the non -Catholic origin of the plot is be-
coming more evident every year from the publication of
contemporary documents.

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, selected Ussher
to attend him at the time of his execution by the Puritans
of England ; and beside him he knelt when reciting his last
prayer before laying his head on the block. This act of
devoted friendship did not prevent people from accusing

1 Dr- Renehan, in his Collections of Irish Church History, p. 39, writes:
' The [Protestant] clergy were scandalously profligate and immoral, but the
episcopal bench was defiled with crimes that disgrace human nature,'

156 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

the Primate of having advised King Charles to sanction the
attainder and execution of his fallen minister. The King,
however, with great heat declared that the accusation was
false, and that when the Bill of Attainder was passed, the
Archbishop came to him, with tears in his eyes, exclaiming :
' Oh ! sir, what have you done ? I fear this act may prove
a great trouble to your conscience ; and pray God that
your Majesty may never suffer by the signing of this Bill.'
On his arrival about this time in London, we learn that
Ussher was interrogated by the Parliamentary Committee
as to whether Sir Charles Coote, or any other person ever
asked him to use his influence with the King to grant a
toleration of religion in Ireland. His reply may be taken
as another proof of his own religious intolerance, and of
the duplicity of King Charles. He declared that neither
Sir C. Coote or any other person ever asked him to use his
influence with the King to grant a toleration of religion in
Ireland ; and also, that on the arrival of the Irish agents at
Oxford, he entreated his Majesty not to enter into any
regulation respecting religion in Ireland without consulting
him ; that this request was acceded to ; that the King and
Council declared against a toleration ; and that he himself
always regarded such a measure as involving the danger of
the Protestant religion.

At the time of the execution of Charles, January 30,
1649, Ussher was the guest of Lady Peterborough, in her
residence at Charing Cross. His biographer narrates that : —

Some of the family, who had previously gone out on the
leads of the house, from whence they had a full view of Whitehall,
came down when the King appeared upon the scaffold, to entreat
him to return with them, and once more behold his venerable and
unfortunate master. At first, unwilling to comply, he at last
consented. When he saw the hereditary Governor of Britain
engaged in the last mournful vindication of his conduct, he
sighed deeply, and with hands and eyes upraised to Heaven,
suffused with tears, he prayed with earnestness ; and when he
saw the masked executioners preparing to fulfil their dreadful
office, no longer able to witness a scene so horrible, or endure a
spectacle so atrocious and diabolical, in which such foul indigni-
ties were offered to royalty, he swooned into the arms of his
attendants, and was at length relieved when laid upon his couch
by an abundant effusion of tears.

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 157

He afterwards kept that day as a day of prayer and
fasting.

In 1655 Ussher was urged by some of his brethren to
wait on Cromwell, and request him to allow the episcopal
clergy the free exercise of the religious services, as he had
previously forbade them to instruct youth, or perform any
part of their ministerial functions. He found a surgeon
dressing a large boil on the Protector's breast : ' If the core
were once out,' said Cromwell, ' I should be quickly well. '
' I doubt,' replied the Archbishop, ' the core lies deeper ;
there is a core at the heart that must be taken out, or else it
will not be well.' ' Ah !' said Oliver, with seeming uncon-
cern, ' so there is, indeed,' and sighed. After the interview
Ussher said to Parr, one of his chaplains : ' This false man
hath broken his word with me, and refuses to perform what
he promised ; well, he will have little cause to glory
in his wickedness, for he will not continue long : the
King will return, and though I shall not live to see it, you
may.'

It had been the habit of the Archbishop to make some
remark in his diary, opposite tHe day of his birth. His
observation this year (1655) was : ' Now aged seventy-five
years. My days are full,' and, immediately afterwards,
' Resignation. ' Not long before his death he heard
Dr. Parr preach, and said afterwards : ' I thank you for
your sermon. I am going out of the world, and I now
desire, according to your text, " to seek those things which
are above." ' On March 20, 1655, in the evening, he first
complained of a pain in the hip. That day he had remained
in his study so long as the light continued, and then went
to visit a lady in the same house, who was dangerously ill.
The next morning the pain in the hip was accompanied
with a great pain in his side. A physician was sent for, and
the medicines supposed to be requisite were ordered ; but,
so far from abating, they only increased the violence of
his complaint, which, after his decease, was ascertained to
be pleurisy. He now applied himself altogether to his
devotions, and the Countess of Peterborough's chaplain
prayed with him. Receiving no intermission from pain, he

158 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

addressed a solemn warning to all who were around him,
to prepare for death and judgment, and requested to be left
alone. The last words he was heard to utter were : ' O
Lord, forgive me, especially my sins of omission.' He had
frequently expressed his desire that he might die praying
for mercy and forgiveness, confident that such language was
most befitting the fallen sons of Adam. He died on the
27th of March, thirty-one years after his elevation to the
Protestant primacy. Cromwell, desirous of obtaining a
character for liberality, ordered his remains to be interred,
with all the honours due to so great a personage, at
Westminster Abbey, on the 17th of April.

Ussher is described as being of moderate stature, sanguine
complexion, brown hair, and of a grave though pleasing
countenance.

USSHEE'S DESIRE TO BE RECEIVED INTO THE CATHOLIC

CHURCH

In a lecture delivered at the Guild Hall, Sydney, June,
1895, his Eminence Cardinal Moran stated that : —

It is not generally known that Ussher, Protestant Primate
and Archbishop of Armagh, was desirous to be restored to
Catholic unity . . . We find him, in 1640, entering into negotia-
tions with Eosetti, the Papal Agent, and proposing to resign the
see of Armagh, to openly profess the Catholic faith, and to spend
the rest of his days in Eome, and, moreover, to bring thither his
magnificent collection of manuscripts and books, if a pension of
£4,000 a-year were accorded to him. Needless to say, no funds
were available to make any such provision, though he was assured
that nothing would be left undone to secure for him an honour-
able maintenance. During the subsequent disturbances of the
Civil War he was tossed to and fro, from post to pillar, but is
said to have persevered in his pious intentions, and to have been
before death admitted to the Catholic fold. His wife, who took
refuge in Paris, repeatedly declared, as is attested in the
Einuccini Memoirs, that he was -most desirous to be reconciled
to the Holy See.

Challenged as to the accuracy of these statements by
Dr. Chalmers, Protestant Bishop of Goulburn, N.S.W.,
his Eminence, in his Fourth Eeply to My Critics,

ARCHBISHOP USSHER 159

delivered October, 1895, gives the following additional
particulars : —

As regards the Protestant Primate, Ussher, his petition to
be received into the Church is referred to in the Memoirs of
Cardinal Passionei, printed in Eome in the last century. The fact
is also recorded in the manuscripts of the contemporary Cardinal
Antonio Barberini, Protector of Ireland, which are preserved in
the Barberini archives. The facts, as related in my lecture on
the Eeunion of Christendom, are taken from the official contem-
porary history of the Kinuccini's Nunciature in Ireland. The
original of this invaluable work, in six large folio volumes, is
preserved as a precious heirloom in the Triveilzi family archives
in Milan. I have a copy of this manuscript. It was made for
me a quarter of a century ago, at an expense of £120, and
corresponds page for page with the original text.

HIS WORKS AND VIEWS ON ANGLICAN ORDERS

His polemical works, which created a great stir in their
day, especially that one entitled. A Discourse on the Religion
of the Ancient Irish and British, would now be regarded as
feeble controversial efforts. Chapter viii., p. 84, he admits
that ' St. Patrick had a special regard to the Church
of Home, from which he was sent for the conversion of
Ireland.'

His volumes on the Antiquities of the British and Irish
Churches are considered to be the most valuable of his literary
works. He was in constant correspondence with the most
learned men on the Continent and in the Islands ; amongst
others, with the learned Bishop Rothe of Ossory, whom he
describes as 'a most diligent investigator of his country's
antiquities,' and with Ussher' s own uncle, the celebrated
Eichard Stanihurst, who died at Brussels, in 1618. Cardinal
Bichelieu invited him to France, promising him a consider-
able pension, and liberty of conscience. He also wrote a
letter on the publication of his work, Ecclesiarum Britanni-
carum Antiquitates, enclosing a gold medal of great value,
stamped with his own likeness. Ussher, in return, sent
him a present of Irish greyhounds. He was the first student
of Trinity College. His splendid library of twenty thousand
volumes, including the Book of Kelts, were secured for Ireland,

160 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

and Ussher's Alma Mater in a great measure, by the
influence and at the expense of Cromwell and the English
army in Ireland. The King of Denmark and Cardinal
Mazarin, were endeavouring to secure it for their own
nations.

O'Sullivan Beare, the author of the Catholic History,
having been stigmatized by Ussher as ' the most egregious
liar of any in Christendom,' returned the compliment by
calling the Primate ' ursum — a bear of the most formidable
kind ; and that he was the very reverss of St. Patrick,
whose successor he pretended to be.' O' Sullivan's estimate
of the number of the Irish Catholic clergy, in 1618, is mille
centum et sexaginta.

Ussher and Bedell, in 1633, give the number as double
that claimed for themselves by the Protestant clergy.

Bernard, the Primate's chief chaplain, writes that his
opinion respecting episcopacy may be fairly summed up in
his own words : ' Episcopus et presbyter gradu tantum
differunt non ordine ; and consequently, that in places where
bishops cannot be had, the ordination of presbyters standeth
valid.'

One could scarcely desire a better justification for the
recent papal condemnation of Anglican Orders than this rash
and reckless admission on the part of one of their most
learned and distinguished prelates.

N. MURPHY, P.P.

[ 161 ]

A NEW STYLE OF ORGAN FOR SMALL
CHURCHES

WITHIN the last few weeks I had an opportunity of
seeing and thoroughly examining- an organ erected
in the College Church, Esker, Athenry, which presents so
many new and interesting features that I should like to
introduce it to the readers of the I. E. KECORD.

The little instrument is the work of Mr. W. E. Andrew,
of London ; but the new features in it, which make it so
interesting and useful, are the inventions of Mr. T. Casson,
whose name is familiar to all students of modern organ-
building. It has been designed with a view to supplying,
at a low price, an instrument on which players of moderate
accomplishments can produce the effects of a full organ with
two manuals and pedals. Mr. Casson has called this small
organ ' Positive Organ,' a term still used on the Continent
to denote small organs without pedals, or a department in
a large organ corresponding to the English choir organ.
The term was used in the early Middle Ages, in contra-
distinction to a ' portative ' organ — one that could be carried
about. The positive organ, therefore, meant a larger kind
of organ. Later on, however, when larger organs were
built, the old positive organs appeared as comparatively
small organs, and hence the term acquired its present
meaning. As in explaining the peculiarities of this new
instrument I shall have to use terms that may not be
familiar to some readers, it may be well, first of all, to
premise a few general observations.

In all keyed instruments, such as organs, pianos, har-
moniums, as well as the concertina and its relatives, the
sound-producing bodies are tuned each to one tone ; each of
them is capable of producing only one tone, and for every
tone, therefore, there must be at least one special sound-
producing body. In the piano, we have for every key one
string, or several strings tuned in unison ; in the harmonium,

VOL. i. L

162 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

we have, similarly, the reeds ; and in the organ, the pipes.
In this respect these instruments differ from the orchestral
instruments, in which the same body is capable of emitting
a number of sounds of different pitch. In the violin and its
relatives— the viola, 'cello, and double bass — this is done by
' stopping.' By pressing down, with the fingers, the string
on the finger-board, the length of the string is shortened
and a higher pitch produced. These instruments are pro-
vided with several strings, mainly in order to facilitate their
manipulation. Absolutely speaking, one string could pro-
duce, as far as pitch is concerned, all the tones of which the
instrument is capable. In the wood wind instruments —
such as the oboe, clarinet, flute — the column of air that
produces the tone is shortened or lengthened by opening or
closing holes in the side of the instrument. In the brass
instruments — such as the trumpet and trombone — similarly
the column of air is varied in length by either drawing out
and pushing in a tube that is telescoped into another one,
or by connecting, through the agency of valves, pieces of
various lengths with the main sounding tube. All these
means of varying the pitch of the same sound-producing
body are impracticable with the instruments mentioned
above, and hence it is that they require a different string,
reed, or pipe for every key.

In an organ, however, we can produce tones of different
quality ; we can, as it were, play, with the same key-board,
different instruments. But it is clear, that for each of these
various tone qualities we must have a whole set of pipes, one
for each key. Now, such a set of pipes, one for each key of
the key-board, alike in construction, and, consequently, in
tone-colour, is called a c stop.' We may distinguish four
different classes of stops. The first and principal one, ,of
full and round tone, peculiarly characteristic of the organ, is
called diapason ; there are several varieties of it, differing
principally in ' scale,' that is, the ratio of the diameter to
the length of the tube. The second class is formed by the
stops of soft, flute-like tone — such as the clarabella, gedackt,
flute ; the third, by those of string-like intonation — such as
gamba, salicional, dulciana ; and the fourth by the reed •

A NEW STYLE OF ORGAN FOR SMALL CHURCHES 163

stops — such as trumpet, trombone, oboe. But organ-stops
differ not only by their character, but also by their pitch.
In order to add dignity and depth to the organ-tone, some-
times stops are introduced, which sound an octave lower
than the principal or ' foundation ' stops. On the other
hand, in order to give more brightness and distinctness,
stops are provided that reinforce the over-tones of the
principal tones, the octave, the twelfth, the second octave,
and soforth. To distinguish these stops of various pitch,
they are named by the length of their longest pipe. The
lowest note of one of the principal stops is produced by a
pipe of about 8 feet in length, and hence such a stop is
called an 8-ft. stop. Stops producing tones an octave lower
than these are called 16-ft. stops ; those producing tones an
octave higher, 4-ft. stops ; and so on. It must be remarked
here, that a closed pipe requires only half the length of an
open pipe to produce the same tone. But closed stops are
designated, not according to the actual length of their lowest
pipe, but according to the tone they produce, measured by
an open pipe. A gedackt, for instance, is called an 8-ft. stop,
though its lowest pipe is only 4 feet in length. Similarly
the sub-bass, or bourdon, usually found as a pedal stop, is
called a 16-ft. stop, though its lowest pipe measures only
8 feet. I may mention here incidentally that organ-
builders sometimes use closed pipes for the lowest octave of
open stops. This is a considerable saving of cost, as closed
pipes require less wood and space than open ones of the
same pitch. But if the organ-builder intends doing so, he
ought to mention it in the specification. It looks like
deception, if he specifies, say, an open diapason 16 ft. for the
pedal organ, and then puts in closed pipes for the twelve
lowest notes.

To allow of all the effects of organ-playing, an organ
should have two key-boards for the hands, called manuals,
and a key-board for the feet, called pedals, each provided
with a number of stops. But such an instrument is costly,
and requires a well-trained player. Hence it is that in many
churches harmoniums, or so-called American organs, are used
as a substitute. These two instruments are essentially the

164 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

same, notwithstanding the high-sounding name of the
latter. They are both of the " free reed " kind, that is to
say, the tone is produced by a reed — a thin piece of metal
made to vibrate by a current of wind, just as in the con-
certina. In the organ, too, we have reed-stops, as mentioned
above, and a reed is also used in the orchestral oboe, bassoon,
and clarinet. But here the reed serves only for forming
the tone, as it were, while the real sound-producing body is
the column of air in the pipe. In the harmonium and
American organ, however, the reed itself gives out the
sound. The only difference between these two instruments
is, that in the latter the wind is sucked through the reeds
into the bellows, instead of being blown out from the
bellows, as is the case in the harmonium. The peculiarity
of the sound of both is that the fundamental tone, that
which is supposed to be predominant, is very weak, and it is
principally the over-tones that are heard. Hence the tone
is wanting in body and dignity. It soon tires the nerves.
It has no carrying power ; it makes a great deal of noise
when you are near it, but is scarcely heard at a distance.
It has no power to lead the voices ; and moreover, by its nasal
quality, has a detrimental influence on voice production.
Besides, the reed allows of very little variety in character.
A slight difference can be produced by varying the shape of
the reed and the way it is embedded in the frame. But
even in the best of these instruments there is a sameness of
colour which soon becomes tedious. Hence a pipe organ, of
even the most moderate dimensions, is far preferable to a
reed instrument. It was only the question of expense that
turned the balance in favour of the reed instruments.

But there is another difficulty to be considered, which I
shall try to explain as clearly as possible. Harmony, as a
rule, is written in four parts, two of which are regularly
played with the right hand, and two with the left. Now, if
the two hands are kept pretty close together, the combined
compass of the two is only small, and therefore if the higher
notes are in their proper place, the lowest notes will be
rather high, and consequently the whole harmony wanting
in depth and dignity. If, to obviate this, the left hand were

A NEW STYLE OF ORGAN FOR SMALL CHURCHES 165

to play lower down on the key-board, two inconveniences
would arise ; first, the gap between the two pairs of parts
would produce a bad effect ; and, secondly, the two lower
parts would themselves be unpleasant for acoustical reasons,
because in the lower tones any interval smaller than an
octave produces very disagreeable beats. If, on the other
hand, we were to assign three parts to the light hand, and
play only the bass with the left hand in the lower portion of
the key-board, connected playing, as is necessary on instru-
ments of sustained tone, would be difficult for the right
hand, the movement of the three upper parts would be
much restricted on account of the limited compass of one
hand, and again there would be the gap between the bass
and the upper parts.

Various means have been devised to overcome this
difficulty. In the American organ we meet with the
sub-octave coupler, that is to say, a mechanical con-
trivance by means of which each key when played presses
down with it the corresponding key in the next lower
octave. Thus the whole compass of the harmony is
extended an octave. The lowest and the highest notes are
far enough apart, without there being any gap between
them. But, on the other hand, all distinctness of part
writing is thereby destroyed, each part being repeated below
the next lower one, and we have also the objectionable
small intervals between very low notes referred to above.
From an artistic standpoint, therefore, this contrivance is
altogether to be rejected. Slightly less objectionable is the
plan of providing a stop of 16-ft. tone for the lower portion
of the key-board. This will give a good bass without
affecting the upper parts of the harmony. But here, too,
whenever the part next above the bass comes within the
range of this 16-ft. stop, the disagreeable effect twice referred
to is produced.

In the organ this difficulty has been solved satisfactorily,
centuries ago, by the introduction of the pedals. If the feet
are brought into requisition for the rendering of the har-
mony, they can play the bass part sufficiently low, while
the two hands are free to execute the upper parts in their
natural positions.

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

But pedal organs are expensive and difficult to play.
Hence the reed organ holds the field. Mr. Casson's Positive
organ, however, does away, in a most ingenious manner,
with both the expense and the difficulty of playing, and is,
therefore, likely to rout the rival. Mr. Casson, first of all,
cuts away the lowest five notes of the ordinary organ key-
board. Thereby he saves a great deal of expense — for it is the
longest pipes that cost most — and deprives the player of
only little, as these notes are rarely used, being beyond
the ordinary compass of the hands. He then provides a
sub-bass, a 16-ft. stop, for the portion of the key-board from
the middle c downwards, which, by an extremely clever
device, is so arranged that only the lowest note struck will
sound on it. By this, the most important feature of the
new instrument, we have the bass of the harmony doubled
in the lower octave, while the other parts of the harmony
remain unaffected, thus obviating all the inconveniences of
the contrivances discussed above. The effect is just as if
the bass were played on the pedals with 16-ft. and 8-ft.
stops.

This solution of the problem is so simple and so natural ,
that one wonders why nobody thought of it before. But, of
course, even if someone had conceived the idea, there would
have been the other difficulty of working it out practically.
It took the inventive genius of a Mr. Casson to see the very
simple and reliable action by which the desired end could
be accomplished.

I can only shortly touch on some other peculiarities of the
organ. The so-called ' melodic ' stop is a counterpart of the
sub-bass arrangement. In it only the highest note struck
sounds, and it serves, therefore, for reinforcing the melody,
a thing often desirable. The ' transposer ' is a mechanical
means of shifting the key-board so that the same key will
produce a lower or higher tone. The Positive organ thus
transposes a semi-tone up and three semi-tones down.
This, we expect, will often prove useful to country organists.
Music is oftentimes written too high for the voices available.
By means of the transposer the organist can play it in a
lower key, without having to read the notes differently.

A NEW STYLE OF ORGAN FOR SMALL CHURCHES 167

The compass of the organ is from F to a", three octaves
and a third. I understand, however, that the designer is
thinking of extending it to c'", thus giving it three octaves
and a fifth. The 4-ft. stop, with which even the smallest
of these organs is provided, of course, gives an extra octave
at the top. The price of these little organs ranges from £65
to £75. The workmanship and material of the organ I have
examined is of the very first class, the ,action perfect, the
tone sweet and artistic, and the appearance very pretty.
The specification includes three 8-ft. stops, namely, open
diapason, gedackt, and salicional. We have, therefore, one
stop from each of the families distinguished above, except
the reeds. The three stops are beautifully contrasted in
colour and strength, and form very nice combinations. The
4-ft. stop, a salicet, is so voiced, that it will blend with each
of the 8-ft. stops, as well as produce a good effect in the full
organ. The melodic stop acts on the open diapason, and
brings out the melody clearly; without making it obtrusive.
I should mention that the instrument is easily blown by
the performer, while an arrangement for blowing by hand
can be attached at a trifling cost.

In conclusion, I may say that while very beautiful
effects can be produced on this organ, and while it is
very superior to any harmonium or American organ, I
should be sorry if anybody were to get it instead of a full
organ with manuals and pedals, or if any aspiring organist,
on account of the facilities afforded by this instrument, were
to give up practising the pedals. For only by the use of
the pedals can the finest effects of organ-playing be
produced.

H. BEWEEUNGE.

I 168 ]

THEOLOGY

INTERPRETATION OF DIOCESAN FACULTIES TO DISPENSE
IN AFFINITY

EEV. DEAR Sm, — In the diocesan faculties that I have got,
I have power dispensandi, certiorate poenitente, in impedimenta
affinitatis quod post matrimonium contractual oritur. What am
I to understand by the clause certiorate poenitente ? Does it
mean that I am, in granting the dispensation, to explain the
ecclesiastical law regarding this diriment impediment to peni-
tents who have hitherto been ignorant of its provisions in this
matter? An answer in an early number of the I.E. BECORD will,
perhaps, settle some controversy, and will oblige

ADMINISTRATOB.

The impediment of affinity arises antecedently or
subsequently to marriage. The antecedent impediment
invalidates a subsequent marriage, and is therefore a
diriment impediment. The subsequent impediment is
rather prohibent, and that only quoad petition-em debiti;
it does not, of course, dissolve marriage already con-
tracted. It is a mere slip on the part of our correspondent,
to call this subsequent impediment of affinity a diriment
impediment, in relation to the marriage already contracted.
For, manifestly, 'matrimonium dirimere, non potest, at reo
adimit jus petendi debitum.' 1

We must premise a few remarks on the nature of this
impediment, and on the conditions under which it arises.

Aertnys thus explains the nature and effect of the
subsequent impediment of affinity :—

Conjux, qui durante matrimonio contraxit affinitatem cum
suo consorte, patrando incestum cum consortis consanguineo
vel consanguinea in primo vel secundo gradu non potest petere
debitum [nisi altera pars tacite petat vel sit in magno periculo
incontinentiae ; etiam, forsan si ipse incestuosus sit in magno

1 Lehmkuhl, ii. 761.

NOTES AND QUERIES 169

periculo incontinentiae et tamen non possit dispensationem
obtinere1] parti tamen innocent! reddere potest et debet.' 2

The conditions under which jus petendi debitum is lost,
are treated in every manual of theology. To one of them
only we must refer, owing to its bearing on the question
proposed. Theologians discuss whether a person ignorant
of this ecclesiastical law, specially prohibiting incest, or
even of the penalty or inhability attaching to its violation,
would, notwithstanding, contract this subsequent impedi-
ment. Many hold that the subsequent, like the antecedent,
impediment of affinity is in no way affected by ignorance ;
it is incurred, they say, ignorantia non obstante.3 Others,
relying en the common teaching, that ignorance excuses
from a poena extraordinaria, and contending that this
impediment of subsequent affinity is a poena extraordi-
naria, maintain that ignorance, either of the ecclesiastical
law itself, or of the penalty, excuses from the impediment.
Feije, referring to this second opinion, says : —

Horum autem opinio communior est eique videtur adstipu-
landum. . . Hac igitur admissa opinione a poena ilia excusat
ignorantia etiam crassa, non tamen affectata, sive facti qua quis
ignorat personam cum qua copulam perfectam habet, esse
comparti consanguineam in primo vel secundo grudu, sive juris,
nempe aut legis ecclesiasticae specialiter ejusmodi incestum pro-
hibentis, aut hujus poenae in eum constitutae.*

This opinion of Feije, whether we consider its intrinsic
merits, or the authorities by which it is supported, is un-
doubtedly probable and safe.0 It would appear, therefore,
that we can and ought to look upon this impediment as
non-existent in the case of a person ignorant of the ecclesi-
astical law. ' Stante autem hac probabilitate,' says Marc,
' non debet conjux jure suo certo privari.' 6

We are now able to reply to the question proposed. Our
correspondent has the faculty restituendi, certioratopoenitente,
jus petendi debitum per affinitatem subsequentem amissum,
and he desires to know what he is to understand by the clause

1 Vid. Aertnys. lib. vi. 504. Marc, ii. 2031. 2 Aertnys, lib. vi 503.

'A Vid. De Angelis, tora. iii., lib. iv., p. 230. * Page 256-257, n. 383.

5 Vid. S. Alphonsus, lib. 1074, where this opinion is called ' satis
probabilis.' Vid. Lehmkuhl, ii. 764 : Marc, ii. 2031, Quaer. 3 ; Aertnys, ii. 503.

6 he. cit.

170 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

' certiorate poenitente.' We have not got a copy of his faculties,
nor have we any means of learning what is the received
acceptation of this clause, in the diocese to which he belongs.

But, as far as we can see, the clause can be taken in two
senses only. First, it may, perhaps, though not, we think,
without violence, be understood to mean that penitents, who
are ignorant of the impediment attaching to incest above
described, should, in order to deter them from a repetition
of their crime, be admonished of the ecclesiastical law,
and of the penalties incurred by its violation. This is
the sense to which our correspondent refers. Secondly, the
clause, certiorate poenitente, may be understood merely to
enjoin, that the penitent when receiving a dispensation should
be informed of the removal of the impediment, in order that
he may clearly understand that the jus petendi is restored.

For our part, we think the clause is to be interpreted in
the second sense, not in the first. The penitents who are
to receive the information are, manifestly, the penitents
who require and receive a dispensation. But those only
who know the ecclesiastical law and its penalty incur this
punishment. Therefore the clause has reference to them
only. It does not regard those who are ignorant of the
ecclesiastical legislation. The ordinary, in granting this
faculty, is not to be presumed to imply the existence of an
impediment against the common teaching of theologians ;
it is manifestly beside his intention and beyond his power
to set up a new prohibent impediment of this kind.

The clear meaning, then, we think, is that the confessor
should inform his penitent that he is exercising his
dispensing power.

We repeat again, that our reply is given without reference
to diocesan statutes or custom ; and in this connection we
may usefully quote the words of Feije : —

Quum tamen haec doctrina quoad ignorantiam legis [ab impedi-
mento excusantem] maxime vero quoad ignorantiam poenae, sit
controversa, in praxi consulenda sunt statuta et usus dioecesis ;
quae tamen si severiora habeant, in circumstantiis difficilibus
nihilominus usui ilia doctrina [ignorantes excusans] esse potest.1

1 loc. dt.

NOTES AND QUERIES 171

Now, a further question is suggested by our corres-
pondent's difficulty. Whichever opinion we adopt, as to
whether or not ignorance excuses from subsequent affinity,
it is a practical question to determine, how we are to deal
with those, who confess this particular sin of incest, but who
are ignorant of the ecclesiastical law and its consequences.
Are we to leave them in bona fide ? Or should we instruct
them? Marc, without restriction, plainly conveys that the
confessor should declare the law and the penalty : —

In praxi, conjuges ut plurimum latam poenam ignorant
donee ejusmodi incestum confess!, earn a confessario, prout
oportet, edocti fuerint. l

And Aertnys implies the same in almost the same terms.2
But, it would seem that no invariable rule should be laid
down. Each case is to be decided according to the dictates
of prudence, and the penitent should or should not be en-
lightened on this matter, according as he is likely to profit or
not by the monition. Feije aptly conveys our meaning : —

Magna circumspections est hac in re cum poenitentibus
procedendum, et interdum propter praevisam monitionis inutili-
tatem vel nocumentum omnino silendum neque interrogandus aut
monendus poenitens. 3

We have, therefore, an additional reason for rejecting
our correspondent's interpretation of his faculties. We do
not think that instruction on this matter of subsequent
affinity should be given indiscriminately. We are, therefore,
slow to believe that indiscriminate instruction is enjoined
in his diocesan faculty.

A BISHOP'S POWER TO DISPENSE IN CUMULATIVE
MATRIMONIAL IMPEDIMENTS

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Two persons in my parish wish to get
married. There are two impediments, but the bishop has power
to dispense in each of the impediments singly. Has he power
to dispense in both in the same case, or is it necessary to apply
to Eome, ob cumulationem ? PAROCHUS.

Cumulation is either numerical or specific. It is

1 he. cit. t ii. 503. 3 foe. cit.

172 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

numerical when there are two or more impediments of
the same kind — two impediments of consanguinity, for
example; it is specific when there are two or more impedi-
ments of different kinds, one of consanguinity, for instance,
and one affinity.

A bishop may have dispensing power in virtue of his
ordinary or of his extraordinary jurisdiction.

I. (1) Where cumulation is merely numerical, and the
dispensing power exercised is ordinary, the bishop can
dispense in several impediments in the same case, in banns,
for example, and an unreserved vow of chastity. (2) Where
the cumulation is numerical and the dispensing power
extraordinary, the bishop's power depends on the terms
of his indult. Usually, he can dispense; sometimes
there is a restriction in the indult. Needless to say,
our reply does not touch the case in which a bishop has
procured a dispensation or the power of dispensing in
a particular case. Having asked and obtained power
to dispense first-cousins, v.g., a bishop could, eo ipso,
not validly dispense, if he afterwards, unexpectedly,
found that the parties were double first-cousins. We
have spoken only of general faculties pro casibus
indeterminatis.

II. (1) Where cumulation is specific, and the dispensing
power ordinary, the bishop can dispense in several impedi-
ments. In the same case, v.g., a bishop can dispense in
banns, in a vow of remaining unmarried and in the pro-
hibition of the marriage in Advent- (2) If the cumulation
is specific, and the power exercised extraordinary, the bishop
cannot, unless in virtue of a special indult, dispense in
cumulative impediments. In the Formula VI- our bishops
v.g., get extraordinary faculties to dispense in consanguinity
in the fourth degree and also in spiritual relationship (nisi
inter levantem et levatum); they cannot, however, in virtue
of these faculties dispense third-cousins who are also
spiritually related. (3) Finally, where the cumulation is
specific, and one impediment comes within the ordinary
power of the bishop, the other within his extraordinary
power, the bishop can dispense unless there be a special

NOTES AND QUERIES 173

restriction, express or implicit, in the indult in virtue of
which he acts.

Not knowing the nature of the impediments in the case
stated by our correspondent, nor the extent of his bishop's
powers, we cannot further apply our answer to the solution

of his difficulty.

D. MANNIX.

LITURGY

THE 'CROSIER' INDULGENCE ATTACHED TO BEADS

KEY. DEAE SIR, — Will you kindly publish the enclosed leaflet,
and tell us is it authentic. Many priests and nuns are sending
their beads to be blessed by the Canons.

A SUBSCRIBER.

BEADS BLESSED BY THE CANONS REGULAR OF THE HOLY CROSS.

Indulgence of 500 days.

This indulgence can be applied to the souls in Purgatory and
be gained by praying an Our F.ather or a Hail Mary on such
beads. In order to gain the Indulgence of five hundred days it
is not necessary to pray either a whole Rosary or a chaplet ; it
can be gained by a single Our Father or a single Hail Mary, and
can be gained as often as one repeats either the Our Father or
the Hail Mary.

The power of blessing Beads to the effect of gaining the afore-
said indulgence was given by Pope Leo X. to the General of the
Order of the Canons of the Holy Cross (August 20fch, 1516). Pope
Gregory XVI. extended the power to the Commissary-General of
the Order (Sept. 15th, 1842), and made the indulgence applicable
to the Souls in Purgatory (July 13th, 1845).

Pope Pius IX. authorized the General of the Order to delegate
the power given to him by Leo X. to every Priest of the Order
(January 9th, 1848).

Finally by decree of His Holiness Leo XIII. (dated 14th
March, 1884), this Privilege has been declared authentic, and as
belonging exclusively to the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross.

The original Documents are kept in the Archives of the Order
of the Canons of the Holy Cross.

These Beads cannot be lent with the design of communicating
the indulgences attached to them ; otherwise they would at once
cease to be privileged.

The Crucifix is indulgenced for the Stations of the Cross, and

174 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

also with the plenary indulgence for the hour of death. The
indulgence of the Stations of the Cross can be gained any-
where by holding the Cross in the band, and saying twenty
Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory be to the Fathers, when
a church where the Stations are canonically erected cannot
be visited

N.B. — The Dominican and Bridgetine indulgences have been
also attached to these Beads.

The Kev. Joseph Van den Dries, Canon Eegular of the Holy
Cross, 19, The Crescent, Taunton, Somersetshire, England, blesses
beads that are sent to him.

We have carefully examined every statement made in
the above leaflet, and find them all in accordance with the
facts. As stated in the leaflet, Leo X. in the year 1516
granted to the General of the Canons Regular of the Holy
Cross extraordinary faculties for blessing beads. By using
beads blessed by him one gained five hundred days' indul-
gence for each Our Father and each Hail Mary, whereas
by using beads bearing the ordinary Dominican or Bridgetine
indulgences, one — not a member of the Confraternity of
the Rosary — gains only one hundred days' indulgence for
each of these prayers. But this is neither the sole nor even
the greatest advantage possessed by beads blessed by the
General of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross. To gain
one hundred days' indulgence for each Our Father and
each Hail Mary by using beads having the Bridgetine or
Dominican indulgences, it is necessary — we are speaking
throughout of those who are not members of the Confrater-
nity of the Rosary — to say five decades without interruption.
In using beads bearing the indulgences we are now discus-
sing, this is not necessary. The indulgence of five hundred
days is gained for each repetition, whether they be few or
many. Each Our Father or Hail Mary said devoutly by
one holding in his hand beads thus blessed establishes the
same claim to an indulgence of five hundred days when
said by itself, "as if a whole chaplet were said without
interruption.

The power conferred by Leo X. on the General of the
Order could not be subdelegated by him to any other, not
even to a priest of the Order A slight change, as the leaflet

NOTES AND QUERIES 175

indicates, was introduced by Gregory XVI. in 1842, when
he granted to the Commissary-General of the Order the
powers which had up to that time belonged exclusively to
the General. A further change was made in 1848 when the
General was empowered by Pius IX. to subdelegate these
same powers to every priest cf the Order.

Notwithstanding the repeated recognition of the faculties
possessed by the fathers of this Order, the extraordinary
richness of the indulgences attached to beads blessed by
them induced many to doubt the authenticity either of the
powers claimed by the members of the Order, or of the
indulgence. A similar reason, doubtless, has prompted our
esteemed correspondent to forward this leaflet to us for
examination. Hence frequent questions — innumerae prope-
modum, the Congregation itself says — were addressed to the
Congregation of Indulgences from all parts of the world, and
from all classes of persons, including archbishops and bishops.
To put an end to all doubt on this matter, and to give a
fresh and lasting sanction to the powers possessed by the
Canons of the Holy Cross, the Congregation of Indulgences,
acting with the approval of our holy Father Leo XIII.,
issued a rescript on March 14, 1884, declaring the in-
dulgence of five hundred days to be authentic, confirming
the power of the General of the Order to subdelegate to
every member of the Order the faculty of imparting this
indulgence to beads, and stating that this power could not be
subdelegated to any priest other than a member of this Order.

The indulgences which, according to the leaflet, are
attached to the crucifix of beads blessed by the Canons of
the Holy Cross, are not imparted by virtue of the powers
granted first by Leo X., but by some subsequent concession
to the Order or to individual members. Any priest may
procure power to impart these indulgences.

Finally, it is stated in the leaflet that the Bridgetine
and Dominican indulgences are also attached to the beads
blessed by these Canons Kegular. This is of importance to
members of the Confraternity of the Rosary who may use
these beads ; for many of the indulgences of this Confra-
ternity require the use of beads bearing the Dominican

176 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

blessing. To others the presence of these indulgences is
of little account, as by one repetition of the beads only one
set of indulgences is gained : and everyone will naturally
wish to gain that which is greatest, which is in this case the
1 Crosier ' indulgence.

HOW SHOULD A PRIEST BE VESTED WHILE ASSISTING AT
THE NUPTIAL CEREMONY P

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Would you kindly state in the February I. E.
KECORD what is the correct way of celebrating a marriage that
is immediately followed by ' Missa pro Sponso et Sponsa.' I
belong to a diocese where all marriages are to be so celebrated,
except in rare cases. I know that the practice of different priests
is different. 1. Some priests go out from sacristy in the ordinary
way with all the vestments on, and, having arranged the chalice,
take off the chasuble and maniple, and descend to the rails to
marry the parties. 2. Others only take off the maniple, and
marry with chasuble on, 3. Others go out in surplice, and,
having married the parties, return to sacristy, and vest in the
ordinary way for Mass. I searched both O'Kane and De Herdt,
and could not find the particular point treated.

SACERDOS.

If our correspondent will look into De Herdt, vol. in.,
n. 272, he will find a clear and concise solution of the
question which he here proposes. This learned author
says : —

Parochus pro matrimonii celebratione induitur superpelliceo et
stola alba, vel si immediate est celebraturus, alba, stola, et etiam
planeta coloris missae convenientis indui defect, excepto manipulo,
quern ante missam accepit.

We appeal to the authority, and quote the words of
De Herdt, not because there is a difference of opinion on
this question among writers, but because his name has been
mentioned by our correspondent. Among modern writers,
at any rate, there is no difference of opinion regarding the
manner in which the celebrant of a nuptial Mass should be
vested while assisting at the nuptial ceremony which
precedes the Mass. Nor is there room for such difference ;

NOTES AND QUERIES 177

for the Congregation of Kites has itself dictated what is to
be observed in this matter. This decision of the Congrega-
tion was given as long ago as 1867, in reply to a question
addressed to it. We give here the question, together with
the reply of the Congregation : —

Utrum pro superpelliceo uti valeat Sacerdos alba cum stola in
pectus transversa ... in celebrando matrimonio cum immediate
post absolutionem ritus matrimonii missam pro Sponso et Sponsa
celebraturus sit?

Eesp. Si immediate sequitur missa sacerdos praeter albam
et Stolam induerte debet etiam planetam.

From this reply of the Congregation of Rites it follows
that the second method mentioned by our correspondent
is the only correct one. A priest, then, about to celebrate
a nuptial Mass may, after vesting in the ordinary way, carry
the chalice to the altar, arrange it, put off the maniple, and
proceed to assist at the nuptial ceremony ; or he may, before
vesting, carry the chalice to the altar, and arrange it as
usual, have the maniple laid in a convenient place on the
altar steps, and then vest in amice, alb, girdle, stole, and
chasuble, and, having put on the biretta, proceed to the
altar with hands joined. Arrived at the foot cf the altar,
he removes his biretta, genuflects, and immediately turns
towards the parties to be married. After the nuptial
ceremony he turns towards the altar, puts on the maniple,
genuflects on the first step, and proceeds with the Mass.

D. O'LoAN.

VOL. I.

[ 178

DOCUMENTS

KEY. DEAK SJE, — The following documents speak for themselves,
and are well worth preserving. A fuller account of the wonderful
occurrence recorded in Dr. Zalka's letter will be given in the
March number of the I. E. EECOED. Perhaps the most striking fact
in connection with the occurrence is the coincidence, wholly
unknown in Hungary, that the very year 1697 — the ninth of
William III. — in which the image of the Blessed Virgin brought
from Ireland by Bishop Lynch shed tears of blood, was the year
in which the most atrocious penal law ever enacted in Ireland
was passed by the Williamite Parliament in Dublin. It decreed
the expulsion of all Catholic ecclesiastics of every grade from the
country, and made it high treason for any of them to return to
their native land. — Yours faithfully,

»J< JOHN HEALY, D.D.,

Bishop of Clonfert.

LETTER FROM DR. ZALKA, BISHOP OF JAURIN [RAAB], TO
DR. HEALY, BISHOP OF CLONFERT

ILLUSTRISSIME AC BEVERENDISSIME DOMING EPISCOPE !
DOMINE COLENDISSIME !

Gualterus Lyncaeus, Episcopus quondam Clonfertensis, inter
politicas turbas seculi XVII. sede sua Episcopali privatus, ad
exteras oras qua exul migrare coactus, venit in Ilungariam,
secum adferens imaginern B. Mariae Virginis ceu unicum
thesaurum suum, coram qua orare et consolationem quaerere
solebat. Apud nos, Jaurini (Eaab), per Episcopum Jaurinensem
Joannem Piiski benevole susceptus, etiam Canonicatum accepit,
et ab anno 1655-1663 qua Canonicus fuit, una auxiliaris dicti
Episcopi et Successoris ejus. Mortuus est 14 Julii anni 1663.

Pius iste vir, superius memoratam imaginem B. M. Virginis
reliquit Ecclesiae Cathedrali, in qua ad columnam parietis
adpensa in veneratione fidelis populi fuit. Anno autern 1697, die
17* Martii, seu in festo S. Patricii patroni Hiberniae, imago a
sexta hora matutina usque horam 9, sanguinem sudavit,
inspectante adcurrentis populi sacerdotumque multitudine.

Mox ad aram lateralem Ecclesiae est collocata haec imago

DOCUMENTS 179

tarn prodigiosa, et ibi in summa veneratione habetur. Hoc anno
1897 recolemus bissecularem memoriam tanti eventus.

Dum haec Illustritati Tuae Ke-verendissimae ad notitiam
perfero, rogare te audeo, digneris mihi perscribere si quae quoad
vitam superius laudati Episcopi Gualteri Lyncaei vobis uberius
nota sunt, quo notitiae nostrae pleniores fiant.

Litterae tuae dirigantur hac via : Baab, Austria Hungaria.

Suscipe, Eeverendissime Domine Episcope, intimae meae
venerationis contestationem.

Jaurini (Eaab) in Hungaria, die 22a Decembris. 1896.

$f JOANNES ZALKA,

Episcopus Jaurinensis.

REPLY OP THE BISHOP OF CLONFERT

Die 3tia Jan., 1897.
ILLUSTBME AC KEVDME DOMINE,

CARISSIME UTI FRATEB,

Litteras Amplitudinis Tuae die 22'la Dec. 1896 datas animo
laetissimo accepi. Etenim illis litteris clare et nitide exposuisti
rem vere mirificam — scil : quomodo Imago ad oras tuas olim a
Gualtero Lyncaeo, Episcopo Clonfertensi, perlata sudorem san-
guineum passa sit die 17ma mensis Martii anno 1697 in Ecclesia
Cathedrali Dioecesis tuae : simul me rogasti ad Amplitudinem
Tuam perscribere ea omnia quae ad pleniorem cognitionem vitae
praedicti Praesulis Hiberni pertinerent.

Quod perlibenti animo faciam non solum propter ipsam rei
utilitatem spiritualem, verum etiam in testimonium illius hospi-
talitatis eximiae, quam olim et Decessores Amplitudinis Tuae et
tota civitas vestra erga Episcopum nostrum, exulem rniserrimum,
exhibuerunt, cujus grata memoria cordibus nostris semper erit
infixa.

Igitur praedictus Gualterus Lyncaeus urbe Galvia super oram
maris occidentals Hiberniae natus est circiter initium saeculi
XVII. ; de anno vero non constat. Ortus est ex familia antiqua
ac primaria in praedicta civitate ; et parentes ejus, Jacobus ac
Apollonia, inter proceres fuerunt urbis illius, quae ad Agrum
Galviensem et Provinciam Tuamensem pertinebat. Eo tempore
infelici Catholicis domi educari non lic'uit, ideo primo Ulyssipone,
postea vero Parisiis eruditus est ; studiisque emensis, et Doctor
in Sacra Theologia et Legum Doctor est renunciatus. Insuper
Protonotarius Apostolicus, et post reditum in patriam Guardianus

180

Galviae cum jurisdictione quasi-episcopali, ac Decanus Ecclesiae
Metropolitanae Tuamensis factus est. Quae omnia constant ex
litteris suis datis apud Galviam die 9na mensis Mail, 1642. 1

Anno 1646 a Nuncio Einuccini eo tempore in Hibernia com-
morante valde commendatus ob zelum ac scientiam translatus
est ad Episcopatum Clonfertensem, nee immerito ; praedictus
enim Nuntius in litteris suis Lyncaeum descripsit tanquam
' praedicatorem bonum, virumque magnae auctoritatis, qui pro
causa Catholica ardenti zelo accensus est, ac valde desideratus
tanquam Episcopus turn a Eegularibus turn a laicis multis.'

Semper fuit Lyncaeus Nuntio fidelissimus ac ardenti erga
religionem ac patriam amore est succensus ; ita ut in annis
subsequentibus periculorum plenis, nemo majore auctoritate
gavisus sit in conciliis Episcoporum Hiberniae. Litteris eorum
publicis scribendis secretarius est renunciatus ; neque dubitari
potest quin in eisdem componendis maximam partem habuerit.2

Capta Galvia anno 1652, Lyncaeus cum aliis paucis prelatis
Hibernis ad insulam remotam super oram Hiberniae occidentalis,
cui nomen Inisboffin confugere compulsus est ; attamen animum
semper invictum exhibuit. Nam ex ilia insula sterili ac remota
ipse cum Sociis ad Summam Pontificem scripserunt, luctuosum
rerum suarum statum exhibentes, siniulque enixe rogantes ut
Papa ipsis auxilium aliquod efficax per principes Catholicos
adferret. Quomodo ibi vitam agerent illi heroici Confessores,
patet ex verbis quibus alius Episcopus eodem tempore suum
modum vivendi descripsit : —

Operarii — Episcopi ac Sacerdotes — in ilia insula non poterunt
diu famem, sitim, aerumnas, acrern persecutionem, vigilias et
infirmitates perferre, habitantes ut plurimum in sylvis et dor-
mientes in pauperrimis casis caveis, ac speluncis terrae, ubi
spatio viginti quatuor horarum vix inveniunt buccellam panis
cum modico lacte vel butyro, frigidam saepe pro potu haurientes,
et aliquando defectu panis mordent herbam. De hac veritate
testimonium perhibeo qui quinque mensium spatio ita in sylvis
vixi, ut possem pusillo gregi esse solatio.3

Exinde evasit Lyncaeus — quomodo autem non constat — ad
Bruxellas ubi anno 1655, uti apparet, cum duobus aliis Episcopis

1 Fide Hardiman's History of Galway, p. 114.

2 Tide Cardinal Moran, Spicilegium Ossoriense. vol. ii.

3 Dr. French, Bishop of Ferns, 1653. Vide Spicilegium Ossoriense.

DOCUMENTS 181

Hiberniae delegatus fuit a Papa ad absolvendos populares suos
ab excoramunicatione quam forsan incurissent, ob spretas Nuntii
censuras antea in Hibernia latas.1

Bruxellis, uti videtur, eodem anno ad Hungariam migravit,
ubi hospites et amicos invenire expulso ac pauperi Episcopo,
Deo dirigente, feliciter contigit.

De illo mirifico sudore sanguineo, quern imago B. Mariae
Virginis ab Episcopo allata passa sit, boc umlm dicere volo.

Ex litteris Amplitudinis Tuae constat predictum sudorem
emissum fuisse die 17ma mensis Martii anno 1697. Porro hoc
ipso anno Dublinii in Parlamento Hiberno lata est lex poenalis
contra clerum Catholicum omnium adhuc lataruni longe atrocis-
sima. Non solum enim decretum fuit ut omnes ex Hibernia
intra annum excederent sed si quovis praetextu ad patriam reverti
auderent, laesae majestatis poenam subire oporteret ; id est
capitis poena seu suspendio plectendi erant. Haec sunt verba.
legis prout ab episcopo De Burgo, Hiberno Dominicano, in sua
Historia latine reddita sunt : —

Anno 1697 omnes Papales Archiepiscopi, Episcopi, Vicari
Generales, Jesuitae, Monachi, etc., etc., quorumcunque Ordinum
Eegulares, et omnes Papistae exercentes ecclesiasticam quam-
piam jurisdictionem, discedere tenentur ex hoc regno ante diem
primam Maii 1698. Si autem post praelibatum diem inveniantur
in hoc regno, transvehentur extra Eegis ditiones. Quod si in
regnum hoc reveriantur, eo ipso rei censebuntur laesae Majes-
tatis [cujus poena fuit suspendium.]

Haec una tantum fuit sed omnium ferocissima legum quae in
hoc Parlamento contra Religionem Catholicum sunt latae. Haud
mirum igitur est si depicta ilia Virgo ex Hibernia proveniens, et
Hibernorum suorum miseriis condolens eo anno, ac die festo
Apostoli Hiberniae, ilium sudorem sanguineum passa fuerit.

Quo die lex ilia infamis regium placitum obtinuerit reperire
adhuc non potui : forsan eo ipso tempore vim legis obtinuit
quo imago B. M ariae Virginis modo illo mirabili calamitatibus
Hibernorum condoluit. Si quid autem postea de his rebus
mihi innotuerit Amplitudinem Tuam certiorem facere haud
omittam.

Interea Te diu sospitem servet Deus ex imo corde exoro: et

1 Vide Spicileffium Ossoriense, vol. ii., p. 150.

2 Vide Hibernia Dominicana, caput xvii.

182 * THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

plura de ilia Imagine coelesti audire cum plebe mea magnopere
gaudebo.

Amplitudinis Tuae,

Servus addictissimus,

>J< JOANNES HEALY,

Epus. Clonfertensts.

Datum apud Montem S. Bernardi,
die ac mense uti supra.

SECOND LETTER OF DB. ZALKA TO THE BISHOP OF
CLONFEBT

ILLUSTBISSIME AC BEVEBENDISSIME DOMINE EPISCOPE !
DOMINE ET FBATEB IN CHBISTO COLENDISSIME !

Litteras Amplitudinis Tuae nuperrime ad me destinatas,
tamquam disertos Tuae in Beatissimam Virginem Mariam pie-
tatis testes, luculentum item in nos propensionis et benevolentiae
indicium, laeto gratoque animo suscepi. De solemnitate bis-
saeculari Sacrae Iconis plura Tibi significare ad id temporis
remisi, ubi ilia absoluta fuerit. Nunc accipe litteras typis
exscriptas, quibus rsi gerendae status fidelis Cleri mei memoriae
commendatur, accipe item ektypon Sacrae Imaginis sudore
sanguineo illustris.

Et Te nostri memorem Deus tueatur omnipotens ! Jaurini
in Hungaria (Eaab. Gyor), die 12a Januarii, 1897.
Amplitudinis Tuae,

Sincerus Cultor in Christo Frater,

ffc JOANNES ZALKA,

Episcopus Jaurinensis.

DOCUMENT TBANSMITTED BY THE BISHOP OF JAUBIN TO
THE BISHOP OF CLONFERT

Laudetur Jesus Christus, et Beatissima Ejus Mater, Virgo
Maria !

In capite novi, quern inchoavimus, anni haec vota ingeminent
labia nostra; borum sanctorum nominum intima veneratio et
vis erigat corda, dirigat cogitationes et opera.

Pervenientes ad limen, quo praeterlapsus annus ab incboato
secernitur, mente volvimus seriem rerum, quas vidimus, rerurn
item, quas videre desideramus.

Inter varias gaudii manifestationes anni jubilaei gentis nostrae
specialis prae caeteris laetitiae nostrae causa fuit recordatio

DOCUMENTS 183

apostolicorum laborum s. Stephani Eegis, quern Dei miserantis
benignitas majoribus nostris, ceu angelum magni consilii, miserat.
Animo aeque exultante suscepimus agnitum fuisse, ceu funda-
mentum culturae, doctrinam auctoris et consummations fidei
nostrae ; laudibus denique fuisse celebratam intercessionem
Beatae Mariae Virginis e mente s. Stephani patronae patriae
nostrae. Suscitaturi in nobis fide in hanc, fecimus publicam ejus
professionem, confitentes nos credere, et adjuvante gratia Dei
etiam in futurum credituros esse, quod Deus revelavit, quod
Christus docuit, quod Apostoli praedicarunt, quod sancta Ecclesia
Romana ad credendum proponit, imploraturos auxilium et spern
collocantes in potentissima intercessione Beatissimae Virginis
Mariae. Certum namque habemus, florente cultu Beatissimae
Virginis, integram et incolumem persistere fidem catholicam, et
cum hac patriae prosperitatem.

Haec intima persuasio movit me, id agere, ut cultum
Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, labente millenii anno in nobis,
nostrisque fidelibus promovere, et in majores usque flammas
accendere studeamus.1 Dilectissimi ! assecuti estis meam inten-
tionem, dum in diversis Diocesis nostrae regionibus ordinastis
peregrinationes ad gratiosa loca,, sicut Vobis innui, ut ibi
intercessionem Magnae Dominae nostrae pro patria et Rege,
proque omnibus nobis jugi devotione imploretis. Populus alacri
sane animo suscepit adhorationes vestras ; amor religionis amori
patriae junctus in laetas flammas erupit ; milleni et milleni
convolarunt sub vexilla vestra ; viae resonabant sacris canticis, in
laudem Magnae Domiuae nostrae. Processiones magnitudine
rarae et adparatu festivae exquisite studio fuere ordinatae. Com-
munitates singulae cum suis vexillis et proprio parocho in serie se
excipiebant ; in ingressu ad visitandum gratiosum locum accensis
fere omnes caereis, puellae praeterea festive indutae et sertis
ornatae, per ducentena et ultra paria incadentes, insolitum prae-
buerunt spectaculum. Sacram bane peregrinationem agentes, turn
in pacris, per quos transiverunt, turn in locis gratiosis in charitate
fuere suscepti. Animi autem peregrinantium fideJium in fide
catholica ita fuere uniti, ut .finita solemni hac devotione inter
lacrymas discesserint ad sua, dulcissima memoria retinentes et
enarrantes magnalia Dei.2

1 Circ. a. 1896. p. 13.

2 Seriem processionum aperit Districtus Csepregh. Fideles cum suis
Sacordotibus longa scrie iveruntad Osli. Mox Districtus Kapuvarensis instituit

184 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Talia solatia spiritualia concessit Deus mihi, venerabili Clero
fidelique populo nostro. Utinam sereno vultu suscipiat devo-
tionem hanc beatissima Virgo et intercedat pro patria Kegeque
nostro.

Haec quoad praeterita. — Sed convertamus oculos mentis
nostrae ad ea, quae in manifestatione cultus Mariani proxime
videre et desideramus et speramus. Notum Vobis sit currente
anno 1897. die 17-a Martii recurrere secundo secularem memoriam
prodigiosi illius eventus, qui miro modo perculit animos
Jaurinensium ! Imago nempe B. Mariae Virginis, hodie in ara
principal! navis septemtrionalis Ecclesiae nostrae Cathedralis
venerationi publicae exposita, anno 3697. die 17* Martii sudore
sanguine mixto maduit. Delete ope linteoli sudori novus
successit a bora sexta matutina usque horam nonam, inspectante
accurrentis, scrupulose et sagaci cuviositate investigantis et
admirantis fere ex tota urbe populi multitudine.1 Adfuerunt
ex omni statu et aetate, nee protestantibus exceptis. Atque
haec est imago ilia benedicta, Vobis Dilectissimi adprime nota
Singuli namque Vestrum, juxta receptum in Seminario usum,
dum Deo Trino vitam totam et mortem omnemque vestram con-

peregrinationem ad KisCzell. Districtus Kis-Marton. Rust et Nagy-Marton alii
ad Loretto. alii ad Kis-Marton. Districtus Szeplak ad Boldogasszony ;
] )istrictus Sopron et Nemet-Keresztur ad Kophaza ; Districtus Jaurinensis ad
Kis-Czell. ITniti Districtus Per. Teth et Kony numero ingenti ad Tethi-Szent-
Kut. ubi in memoriam Millennii etiani statua B. Mariae Virginis fuit e piis
fidelium oblatis erecta. Districtus Comitatus Moson ad Kalnok et Boldo^iiss-
znuy. Fideles labii croatici passim ad Loretto. E Distrirtibus Comitatus
Komarom alii ad Bodajk, alii ad Szent-Kereszt in Peli-fo'd.

1 Pluribus exponit haec Christophorus Schogg, qui in vicinis decenniis
vixit, et e Capellano germanico Capitulari anno 17o4. jam Canonicus Jauri-
nensis erat. Hie ' quae a coaevis et prodigio praeseutibus, quibus f amilialiter
con vixit, accepit, fide optima litteris prodidit.' Porro : ' Dici iiequit, quanta
inter sacrum horrorem, pietatis ardorem et propius videndi cupiditatem
colluctatio sit exorta . . .' ' Ut autcm miraoulo fides esset, omnisque latentis
fortasse fallaciae ac doli suspicio detraheretur, Auctoritate Ecclesiastica refixa
primum a pariete icon, turn q uibuscunque ornamentis, omnique, quod inclu-
debat, ligno privata, margii<ibus etiam ligneis, ut idhil deesset, exuta, inspecta
denique et excussa diligentissime fuit. Cum autem et ipsa i>mnis humor's
naturalis expers et paries siccissimus deprehensus esset, ae pr jpterea jam libera
quoque super mensula solis Facerdotum manibus sustentata prodigiose cruorem
sudare m>n desineret, manifesto miraculum constitit.' Haec in suis de sacra
hac imagine notis in Archive Sacristiae Capitularis custoditis.

Linteolum thecae argenteae sub vitro iiiclusum populo ad oseulandum datur.
Testificationem sequentem habet :

Das ist das Wahrhafte Abwisch-Tiiehel von dem allhicszigen gn<aden Bildt,
Welches Klutt geschwitzet hat in Hiesziger ThomVKirehen, den 17-ten
Monaths Tag Martii des 1697-sten Jahrs, Welches Hiermit Gott zu Ehren
TTnser Lieben Frauen und alien Heilligen Auffi offern Wollen ! Raab, den
20-ten Mav Ao. IT-Jl.

DOCUMENTS 185

secraturi eratis sorfcem, nempe ante snsceptionem s. Ordinis
Subdiaconatus, coram hac imagine inter pia suspiria commenda-
vistis Vos tantae Matris patrocinio ; transeuntes penes Ecclesiam
Cathedralem introivistis visitaturi et salutaturiKeginiam,Matrem
misericordiae ; in tentatione et tribulatione, ceu in civitate refugii,
quaesivistis protectionem, consolationem, robur, consilium ;
saepe etiam invenistis.

Nunc itaque, ubi glorificationis istius memoria bis saecularis
recolitur, reni mini Vobisque utilem et jucundam facere me credo
colligendo et exponendo historica fragmenta, quae istius venera-
tionis initia et incrementa exhibent.

Imago in tela picta, in altitudine unum et dimidium pedem
metiens, exhibet sanctam Dei Matrem, penes dormientem,
Jesulum vigilantem, et compositis manibus quasi deprecantem.

Jaurinum adtulit illam, profanationi Puritanorum subducturus,
Walterus Lynch, Episcopus Clonfertensis in Hibernia, tempore
persecutionis Cromwellianae exul, quern Episcopus Jaurinensis
Joannes Piisky in charitate suscepit et a. 1655, canonicatu con-
solatus est.1 Puit ille Archidiaconus subin Papaensis. Egit una

1 Erinnerungen an die ungarische Kirche erweckt der Name des Bischops
Walter Lynch von Clonfert. In Galway geboren, empfing er die erste theolo-
gische Ausbildung im irischen Colleg zu Lissabon, stand dann mehrere Jahre
trotz der Verfolgung einer hoheren Schule in Limerick vor und bezog die
Universitat von Paris, wo er den Doctorgrad in der Theologie erwarb. Zum
Propst in Galway ernannt, erregte er in Folge seiner Kanzelreden die allgemeine
Aufmerksamkeit. ' Er ist gelehrt.' so schildert ihn Rinuccini ' ein trefflicher
Kanzelredner, thiitig und von Einfluss, ein begeisterter Verfechter der
katholischeii Sache und von vielen Ordensleuten und Laien als Bischof
empfohlen und gewiinscht.' Die Liebo zur Wissenschaft liess ihn eine
bedeutende Biicherei sammeln, welche die Puritaner leider durch Feuer
zerstorten. Am II. Miirz 1647 zum Bischof von Clonfert ernannt, konnte
Lynch nur fiinf Jahre seiner Heerde ein geistlicher Vater sein. In einem
Briefe von 31 August 1C52, schildert er Innocenz X. seine Leiden. Nach
d^r Einnahme von Galway war er auf die Insel Inisbofm seflohen, wo
er sich damals noch aufhielt. Hier ware er dem Hungertode verf alien,
ware nicht ein Schiff der kiJniglichen Flotte mit Getreide gelandet,
welchem dann zwei Fregatten des Herzogs von Lothringen mit Munition
gefolgt seien. An dem Sieg der nationalen Sache wagt er nicht zu
verzweifeln, da die Iren, wenngleich von Haus und Hof vertrieben, jetzt nach
Art der Makkabaer kampften und die Pseudo-Verbiindeten offen zum Feinde
hielten. Von Inisbofin floh der Bischof zuniichst nach Briissel, endlich treffen
wir ihn beim Bischof Johannes Pusky zu Raab in Ungarn, der ihn 1655, zum
Weihbischof und Mitglied des Domkapitels ernannte. A]s der Hischof nach der
Hestauration schon Vorkehrungen zur Heise in die Heimath getroifen, ereilte
ihn 1664 (recte 1663), zu Raab der Tod. Zum bleibenden Andenken an den
hohen irischen Fliichtling bewahrt der Dom zu Raab ein von Lynch aus Irland
gerettetes wunderthatiges Muttergottesbild, zu dessen wiirdiger Aufnahme der
Bischof Franz Graf Zichy einen prachtvollen Altar errichten liess. (Alphons

186 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

auxiliarem Episcopi. In antiquis Visitationibus saepe notatum
invenitur, esse parochum loci ordinatum 'per Episcopum
Hibernum.' Adest porro in thesauro Sanctae Imaginis crux
pectoralis Georgii quondam Suppanich Canonici Cantoris et
Abbatis Ss. Trinitatis de Siklos, quam Walterus Episcopus
benedixit et testimonio propria manu exarato providit.1 Pius hie
exul mortuus est. a. 1663, die 14-a Julii. Dum vixit, vita ejus
speculum sacerdotale exhibuisse narratur.

Sed ut jam ad imaginem gratiosam redeamus, post mortem
Episcopi Walteri imago facta est proprietas Ecclesiae nostrae
Cathedralis, et adpensa est ad parietem circa locum, ubi est ara
beatae Annae. Mox post miraculosum eventum expensis guber-
natoris militaris fortalitii Jaurinensis, Comitis Sigeberti Heister
et uxoris Aloysiae Comitissae Katzianer ad venerationem Beatis-
simae Virginis, ejusque intimum cultum accensorum, erecta fuit
ara, et sacra Virgo ad earn collocata atque visitata, qua Con-
solatrix afflictorum et in tribulatione positoiT.ru. Speciale hujus

Bellesheim, Kanonicus zu Aachen, Geschichte der kath. Kirche in Irland.
Mainz 1890 II. Band., p. 512.)

Nuperrime, datis • ad illustrissimum ac Revssmum Dominum Episcopum
Clonfertensem litteris, quaesivi de vicissitudinibus vitae Gualteri Lynchaei
Episcopi olim Clonfertensis. Sua Illustritas humanissime et promptissime
respondit, ennarans, f uisse virum ilium Galviae ex praenobili familia ortum,
litteris Ulysipone et Parisiis excultum, Theologiae ac Juris suprema laurea
ornatum, imo successu temporis etiam honoribus Protonotarii Apostolici
distinctum, Metropolitan! Capituli Tuamensis Decanum, denique Episcopum
Clonfertensem. Historia ejus ulterior ea est, quaro in hac nota auctor
germanicus enarrat. Ad quaestionem. quid evenit in Hibernia anno 1697.
Responsum accepi, tune fuisse latam atrocissimam illam le<rem contra Catholicos,
vigore oujus omnibus Catholicis jnrisdiccionem quampiam Ecclesiasticam habtn-
tibus dies dicta, qua emigrare debent. ' Anno 1697. omnes Papales Archiepiscopi,
Episcopi, Vicarii Generales, Jesuitae, Monachi, quorumcumque Ordinum Regu-
lares et omnes Papistae, exercentes Ecclesiasticiim quampiam jurisdictionem,
discedere tenentur ex hoc regno ante diem primam Maji 1698. Si autem post
praelibatam diem inveniantur in hoc regno, transvehentur extra Regis ditiones.
Quodsi in hoc regnum revertantur, eo ipsi rei censebuntur lae«ae Majestatise'
[cujus poena fuit suspendium. Haec ex epistola Illustrissmi D. Episcopi
Clonfertensis Joannis Healy].

1 Ego "Waltherus Lincheus Episcopus Clunfertensis in Regno Hyberniae
Fidem facio per praesentes , me ritu solito consecrasse et Benedixisse crucem
pectoralem Ad usum Rndi Admodum Dni Georgii Supp-inich, Abbatis SS.
Trinitatis de Nikllyos, Archidiaconi Mo.-oniensis Canonici Cathedralis Ecclesiae
Jaurinensis. Die 8. Mensis Decembris. Anno Dni 1662. Simbolum eiusdem
Dni Georgii Snppanich ; Deus meus misericordia mea. Psal. 85. Waltherus
Lyncheus. Eppus qui supra.

In tergo : Sancti et Sanctae Dei, intercedant pro nobis. Amen. Dulcis
Jesus »J« Maria Benigna ! Dulcis Jesus miserere mei. Benigna Maria ora pro
me. S. Afra, S. Anna, S. Joseph, Orate pro me. Quorum reliquiae hie
contdnentur illi, et omnes.

DOCUMENTS 187

exemplum occurrit in de votione celeberrimi Stephani Telekessy
Canonici Jaurinensis, anno 1699, denominati Episcopi Agriensis,
qui exulcerato cordi suo coram hac imagine levamen quae-
sivit.» Badem aetate (1688-1721) vixit Canonicus Mathias
Bubnich, qui in Chori musici parte aram Divae Virginis respi-
ciente concinnum organum sumptu suo exstruxit, porro sacrae
hujus imaginis ectypon in pariete orientali canonicalis domus,
quae est infra aedes Seminarii, mine ad ingressum in novam
topographiam, adponi jussit, donata vinea in Nyul, ea addita
conditione, ut e proventibus fundatio fiat pro Sacris, item, ut
lampas coram hac imagine diebus sabbathi et ante festa B. Mariae
Virginis in perpetuum oleo alatur, quod nostro quoque tempore
frequentatur. Idem, de. quo superius mentio erat, Comes
Sigebertus Heister et Comitissa Aloysia Katzianer obtulerunt
fundationem pro litaniis Sabbatinis et festivis B. Mariae Virginis,
quae nostro quoque tempore, juxta mentem fundatorum, jugiter
persolvuntur. Andreas Sgodich e parocho Peresznyeensi, dein
Hidegsegensi Canonicus (1713-1743), item Mathias Barilich e
parocho Fiilesensi itidem Canonicus (1731-1749), fundationem

1 Serenissime ac Reverendissime Princeps ! Servitiorum usque ad mortem
commendationem humillimam. Dux Serenissime quanto cordis dolore mihi
acciderit, sapientissimo iudicio et affectionatissimae gratiae vestrae Serenitatis
tamquam mihi gratiosissimi Principis relinquo ; quod in tauta senectute, post
meos in hao Dioecesi vestrae Serenitatis, 38 et amplius annis Labores, et in
hocce Capitulo Jauriensi, inter meos fratres, et Capellanos V. Serenitatis, ab
annis 28 fere in omnibus Laboriosis Officiis desudantem, hesterna die A. R.
Dominus Altenburgensis Plebanus, non exspectatis paucissimis diebus, usque
dum mea Installatio Agriae perficeretur, ut honestius discedere valerem, cum
gratiosis V. Serenitatis Donacionalibus coram Capitulo comparendo, ut me
V. Serenitatis licet indignum, tamen ndelissimum. qui etiam sanguinem pro
Vestra Serenitate profundere semper paratus fueram, Capellanum humillimum,
per suam Installationem, e stullo exturbaret, et quod summo dolore mihi accidit,
iussu (ut ille referebat) vestrae Serenitatis, cum stupore Dominorum Fratrum,
et ingenti compassione, potentissime institit. Fateor Dux Serenissime, quod
tarn iusto dolore, in taatum commotus fuerim, ut nisi gratia, favor, et affectus
pristinus Vestrae Serenitatis me animasset, fortasse exanimatus fuissem, unde
cum ne verbum coram Fratribus proferre potuissem, excessi mutus e Consistorio,
et ad Aram Piae Mariae Virginis, ante duos annos Lacrymas profundentis, in
tantis meis angustiis conf'ugi, et ibidem pro Vestra Serenitate Matrem miseri-
cordiarum exoravi, ut non cum taiito dedecore, et aliorum scandalo, meaque in
aeternum confusione, sic ante tempus Jaurino, ubi meis Laborious vires, et
aetatem, cum omnium compassione con sumpsi, discedere debeam! Servet Deus
V. Serenitatem in annos quam plurimos felicissime ex sincere corde desidero
maueoque Vestrae Serenitatis tamquam mei gratiosissimi Principis usque ad
mortem humillimus Capellanus Step! anus Telekesi m. p. (Autographon inter
acta sub Christiano Augusto. Tom. i., p. 459. Indorsatum : Praesentat. die
11 Julii, 1699.)

188 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

fecerunt pro lumine coram sacra hac imagine alendo. Votiva
autem dona aurea et argentea plurima adtulerunt fideles in
signum intimae venerationis et gratiarum actionis.

Zelosus denique Beatissimae Virginis cultor Comes Franciscus
Zichy de Vasonkeo Episcopus Jaurinensis (1743-1783) in locum
arae ab Heister erectae, hacc, quam nunc videmus, aram mar-
moream magno sumptu erexit, et in ea imaginem miraculosam
argentea lista munifice ornatam collocavit, addita fundatione pro
Sacris hora media octava quotidie celebrandis. Pius hie magnani-
mus et decorem domus Dei exuberante largitate diligens antistes
locum sepulturae coram hac sacra imagine elegit. Ibi praestolatur
beatam resurrectionem, quam Illi omnes precamur.

Tempore bellorum cum Gallis gestorum pro defensione patriae
e votivis donariis S. Iconis magna vis auri et argenti ablata est ;
ast nova illis successerunt in thesaurario, quae in festis B. M.
Virginis exponi solent, ut sint testes pietatis. S. Iconem ultimis
temporibus duo e venerabili Capitulo, Josephus Trichtl lateralibus
candelabris, Franciscus Ebenhoch vero nova lampade argentea
ornarunt. Pius vero PP. IX. anno 1874. indulgentias plenarias
concessit pro diebus 17" et 25a Martii, quibus memoria prodigiosi
eventus quotannis recolitur.

Haec sunt Dilectissimi, quae adpropinquante jubilari solenmi-
tate Beatissimae Matris Vobis jam nunc in memoriam revocare
volui, publicatione ordinis solemnitatis ad tardiora tempora
relicta. Agite jam, ut renovetis ilia pia suspiria, quibus sacro
Ecclesiae rninisterio Vos dedictafcuri, sub praesidium B. Mariae
Virginis confugistis, Vos obtulistis, illius maternum auxilium
invocastis ; resuscitetis gratiam sacrae ordinationis, ut per
vestrum servitium, doctrinam omnemque sacerdotalem exem-
plarem vitam laudetur Jesus Christus, ejusque beatissima Mater,
Virgo Maria !

Jaurini, in octava festi s. Joannis Apostoli et Evangelistae, die
3" Januarii a. D. 1897, sacerdotii quinquagesimo primo, Epis-
copatus trigesimo.

3? JOANNES m. p., Epi&copus.

t 189 ]

NOTICES OF BOOKS

IGNATII DE LOYOLA MEDITATIONES. Franciscus de
Hummelauer, S.J.

THIS is a most valuable work on the ' Spiritual Exercises. ' It
is evidently the fruit of deep study, knowledge, and love of that
wonderful book. It will prove interesting and useful in the
highest degree to all employed in giving retreats according to the
method of St. Ignatius. They will find in it answers to difficulties
and questions which suggest themselves to everyone so employed.
It is a work which combines in a rare degree thought and solid
spirituality.

It does not aim at being a full commentary on the text,
though it throws great light on the whole work. It deals
expressly only with the Meditations and Contemplations. This
is its special feature — that it explains and develops all these,
including not only those which are more or less largely treated
in the book of the Exercises, but also the mysteries of our Lord's
life, the heads only of which are given by St. Ignatius. It
explains the connection and bearing of all the meditations and
exercises on the great aim of the whole work — how a man is to
make a right choice of a state of life, and to perfect himself
therein, or to reform and perfect himself in the state in which he
is already constituted.

It would make an excellent book of daily meditations. No
more helpful work for conductors of Jesuit retreats has appeared.
It is full of matter. Independently of its being so skilful a com-
mentary on the meditations and contemplations of the Exercises,
and their connection, and interdependence, it is replete with
Scriptural knowledge, together with beautiful and solid spiritu-
ality, and all clear and scholarly. It is sure to meet with the
high appreciation it deserves from all interested in the marvellous
little book it is concerned with. Though the explanation and
development of all the meditations and contemplations is the
essential characteristic, there is an introduction which is, in fact,
a masterly study of the whole of the Exercises, and a very
instructive appendix on the preludes and colloquies.

Having said so much in deserved praise, there is one of the

190 NOTICES OF BOOKS

Contemplations in which we think the learned author is at fault.
Father Hunamelauer seems to hold that our Lord, in the Sermon
on the Mount, taught by the Beatitudes that spiritual indifference
to all created things, which St. Ignatius insists so much on,
though it is not the highest state of perfection in God's service
and love here on earth. This latter is set forth in the third
kind and degree of humility. Now, surely our Lord meant to
lay down here the most perfect rule of happiness, the most
perfect way of attaining the end for which we have been
created, the most perfect way of being united with God; and
that most perfect way is that imitation of Christ from love of
Him, which constitutes the third degree of humility. St. Thomas
says the Beatitudes are the most perfect fruits of the Holy Ghost,
the perfect workings of the gifts and of the virtues perfected by
the gifts ; therefore there can be nothing more perfect than the
life they signify and teach. But this is a minor matter as far as
the Exercises are concerned, and still useful to remark.

In conclusion, we are convinced that Father Hummelauer's
book will be highly esteemed by all who will read it with the
care and attention it deserves, and that it will grow more and
more in favour the more it is used and understood.

W. SUTTON, s.j.

THE IRISH CATHOLIC DIRECTORY AND ALMANAC for 1897.

With Complete Directory in English. Dublin : James

Duffy & Co.
THE CATHOLIC DIRECTORY, ECCLESIASTICAL EEGISTER

AND ALMANAC for the Year of our Lord, 1897. London :

Burns & Gates, Ltd.

THESE Directories are so well known that it would be super-
fluous to describe their contents, and so indispensable that no
word of commendation is necessary to ensure their rapid sale. ^
The Eegister of ecclesiastical events of the preceding year, which
is a special feature of the Irish Catholic Directory, is, as usual,
interesting, and judiciously selected. We notice that the
summary is shorter this year than in former years, but yet it
seems to us to be more valuable, as the editor has wisely excluded
events and records which have not a permanent historical value.
For handy reference both now and hereafter this yearly Eegister
will prove invaluable.

Both Directories have an Ecclesiastical Calendar intended

NOTICES OF BOOKS 191

chiefly for the laity and for nuns ; but while Burns and Gates
give merely what is required for these two classes, Duffy gives a
full translation of the Latin Ordo. The result is that the
Calendar for the laity occupies eighty-eight pages in the latter,
while it fills barely fifteen in the former. Duffy's arrangement
s convenient for the few priests who do not wish to purchase the
Ordo; but we think it inconvenient for the laity and the nuns,
who require to know merely the Mass of the day. We would
suggest that, instead of printing a full translation of the Ordo in
the Directory, the Messrs. Duffy should bind up the Ordo itself
with those copies which they are sending to priests, and that
in the copies intended for others than priests, they should
print an English summary of the Calendar similar to that
given in the edition before us of their Directory by Messrs.
Burns & Gates.

Each Directory gives a statistical summary, from which we
learn that there are in Ireland 29 archbishops and bishops ;
3,438 priests, secular and regular ; and 2,434 parochial and
district churches ; in England, 18 archbishops and bishops ;
2,686 priests, and 1,463 churches, chapels, stations, &c. ; and
in Scotland, 7 archbishops and bishops, 404 priests, and 349
places for Catholic public worship.

SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR AN EIGHT DAYS' RETREAT.
By B. Hammer, O.S.F. Freiburg and St. Louis: Herder.

THIS book forms a valuable addition to our treatises on
practical devotion, and will be found useful by the lay as well
as the clerical members of our Communion. It is a work that
will be found to be of special service to priests who are en-
gaged in conducting retreats, or to those who are making
their own private retreats without the assistance of a lecturer.
The volume contains a morning meditation, spiritual reading,
afternoon conference, and evening meditation for each day.
The matter of the work is assiduously collected from the most
approved authorities on the spiritual life ; and the meditations,
while supplying excellent food for reflection, are so constructed
as to give reflection that practical direction which aims at touch-
ing the heart and influencing morals and conduct. The book
contains in an Appendix the Method of Assisting at Mass by
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Ignatius' Methods of Prayer,
and St. Bonaventure's Maxims of Piety.

C. M.

192 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

MISSA IN HONOKEM ST. WiLFEiDi. By K. W. Oberhoffer.
London : Alphonse Gary. Score, 2s.

WE are glad to be able to recommend this publication of
Mr. Gary's. The composer apparently is an earnest musician,
and one who knows what is suitable for the Church. While,
therefore, writing in a quite modern style and an effective
manner, he avoids carefully anything that, either in harmony, or
melody, or rhythm, would be out of keeping with the dignity of
God's services or the purity of religious feeling. The Mass will
be welcome to choirs that are anxious to be within the boundary
lines of correct Church music, but are not able to appreciate music
of a Palestrina or the stricter writers of the German Cecilian
School.

NEW FACES AND OLD. By Francis J. Finn, S.J. A
Collection of Six Short Stories of Boy-life. Freiburg
im Breisgau : Herder:

THE knowledge of boy-character displayed is great ; the
stories are short, and calculated to interest highly our juvenile
readers, while they imperceptibly instil fine moral principles.
The little volume is eminently suitable for a birthday or New
Year present to younger boys, and for the junior boys' library.

BOOKS RECEIVED

I. From the Catholic Truth Society : —

(1) Ought We to Honour Mary ? Or, the Bible v. the Reformers. By Rev.
James Splaine, S.J. (2) The Bull on Anglican Orders. By Rev. Sydney F.
Smith, S.J. (3) England and the Holy Eucharist. By Very Rev. Canon
Connelly. (4) Our Father : Meditations for a Month on the Lord's Prayer. By
Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J. i5) Modern Science and Ancient Faith. By Rev.
John Gerard, S.J. (6) Bkssed Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland. By Rev.
G. E. Philips. (7) Wayside Tales. By Lady Herbert. First Series, Nos.
1-10. (8) Companion to the Encyclical 'Satis Cognition :' icith a Keply to the Bishop
of Stepney. By Rev. Sydney F. Smith, S.J.

II. From the Art and Book Company :—

(1) The Daily Life of a Religious. By Mother Frances Raphael, O.S.D.
(2) The Church Door Almanack. (3) Priests' Census Book. (4) Handbook for the
Sunday School Teacher. By Father Funiiss, C.SS.R. (5) Register of Intentions
for Mass. (6) The Catholic Praijer Book Almanack. (7) Catholic Diary, 1897.

OUR LADY OF GYOR, AND BISHOP WALTER

LYNCH

HE subject of the following paper came casually
under my notice when travelling last summer in
Hungary. While on a visit in the neighbourhood
of Gyor, I met the Secretary of the Bishop of
that diocese, who informed me that the Cathedral possessed
a painting brought from Ireland by Bishop Walter Lynch,
of Clonfert, and held the mortal remains of that exiled prelate.
The following day the Secretary, Kev. Dr. Gisswein, kindly
conducted me over the Cathedral, showed me the miraculoi; s
picture of the Virgin and Child, an engraving of which,
from a photograph, accompanies this number of the
I. E. RECOKD, and exhibited a relic connected with it, to
which reference will afterwards occur. I am likewise
indebted to him for the documents upon which the history
of the prodigy is based.

A shout account of Bishop Lynch's early life and sub-
sequent career will not, I dare say, be out of place as an
introduction. It is taken chiefly from1 Lynch's Lives of
the Bishops of Clonfert, and Irom documents subjoined to
thea Aphorismical Discovery of Treasonable Faction. The
sketch, necessarily brief, is personal, reference only being
made to the part taken by Lynch in the events of the
troubled and difficult times in which he lived.

1 Joan Lyncae, Historia Ecclesiastica Hiberniac, vol. ii. Todd Manuscripts,
Trinity College Library, Dublin.

2 Sir J. T. Gilbert, Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland from A.D.1C41
to 1652.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.— MARCH, 1897. X

194 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Walter Lynch, the son of James and Apollonia, was born
in Galway, probably about the beginning of the seventeenth
century. The Lynches, one of the tribes, were most
ancient, and among the leading families in Galway until the
middle of the seventeenth century. During the greater part
of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries they
possessed the principal authority within the town. Thomas
Lynch Fitz-Arobrose was the last Catholic mayor, in 1654,
when Cromwell dispossessed the ancient inhabitants; and
during a period of one hundred and sixty-nine years, the
family gave to Galway eighty-four mayors, and several
bishops and distinguished ecclesiastics to the Church.1 He
received the rudiments of knowledge at home, for there was
then a famous school, in Galway, kept by Alexander Lynch,
and frequented by twelve hundred students. In 1608,
Primate Ussher made a visitation of this great seminary of
the West, in order to shut its doors, and thus deprive the
Catholics of instruction. According to tradition, Dr. John
Lynch, Archdeacon of Tuam (Gratianus Lucius), was son
of the above named, and his successor as head master
of the school.3 To the Irish College in Lisbon, Walter
was afterwards sent to complete his education. Having
made there a course of humanities and philosophy he
got, presumably, like other students on leaving, ' five
pounds to pay his passage to Ireland, a gallon of wine,
and some flour for biscuit.' On returning, to Ireland
he founded a school in his native county, at Gort,
then the property of his paternal aunt, Elizabeth. She
was the first wife of Sir Kobert O'Shaughnessy, who
obtained a patent, dated 1607, to hold a fair at Gort, and
was made a freeman of Galway, in 1611. 2 From this place
he went to Limerick, where he likewise opened an academy.
It does not appear how long he stopped there, nor have I
found a record of his career as schoolmaster, but he is next
heard of in Paris, as a theological student. As the result of

1 Hardiman, History of Guhcay, p. 17.

2 O'Flahprty, Wist Con»aught, J.A.S., p. 420.

a Blake-FosW, The Irish Chieftains Gill, 1872, p. 714.

OUR LADY OF GYOR, AND BISHOP WALTER LYNCH 195

serious study his course of divinity at the University was
successfully completed, and he took, with applause, the
degree of Doctor in Theology. Judging from circumstances,
Tyrell, Egan, Nugent, and Lonergan, distinguished doctors
of the Sorbonne, were, most likely, among his contem-
poraries.3

Dr. Lynch now turns his steps homewards, and was, no
doubt, ordained priest before leaving Paris, for mention is
next made of him as Warden of the Collegiate Church of
St. Nicholas, Galway, which responsible position his merits
and attainments won for him at an early age. This church
was founded in 1320, and as the early colonists of Galway
were a commercial and seafaring community they dedicated
it to the patron of mariners, St. Nicholas of Myra. Galway
was in the ancient diocese of Annadown, the cathedral of
which was romantically situated on the eastern shore of
Lough Corrib, several miles to the north of the ' Citie of
the Tribes.' The diocese being small, and the churches
much decayed, the metropolitans made many attempts to
annex it to the see of Tuarn. Besides, the inhabitants of
Galway, being mostly English, and their country neigh-
bours and co-diocesans almost purely Irish, were in frequent
feuds, which often led to bloodshed and murder. These
citizens complained, that in the disputes the Irish clergy,
who exercised jurisdiction within the town, sided with their
own countrymen. Donatus O'Murray, Archbishop of Tuam,
before whom the Galwaymen's grievances were laid, resolved
to remedy them by granting to the complainants a sort of
ecclesiastical home rule called the Wardenship.

Accordingly, he constituted St. Nicholas's, which was the
principal church of Galway, a collegiate, with a guardian
or warden, and eight priests or vicars. He provided for
their maintenance, and marked out the jurisdiction of the
Chapter, the members of which were to be duly elected by
the Mayor and Burgesses of the' city. The Chapter exer- '
cised the care of souls, and the Warden possessed ample

1 Guerin, Rccherches Historiquei stir I' Assembles de 1682, second edition*
p. 537.

196 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

quasi-episcopal jurisdiction.1 Innocent VIII. confirmed the
Archiepiscopal Charter establishing the Wardenship.

In this exalted office, the youthful Dr. Lynch not only
discharged faithfully the many duties of the pastorate amidst
the troubles of the time, but found leisure to cultivate the
science of Ecclesiastical Jurisprudence. For a period he
withdrew from the Wardenship, in order to devote himself
entirely to this new study, and once more crossed the seas
in pursuit of knowledge. In France, he perfected his
studies in Canon and Civil Law, and in both obtained the
doctorate. He also was engaged as lecturer in the faculty
of theology. During this sojourn, it is not certain where he
resided ; but it is probable he stayed at the Irish College,
Paris, and frequented the Sorbonne, then one of the chief
seats of learning in Christendom.

Now, fully trained in every branch of Sacred Science, a
dialectician, theologian, and canonist, equipped to do battle
for Church and country, he returned to Galway. There he
is again found occupied with the cares of the Wardenship,
and as assiduous in the discharge of its duties as he was
energetic in the defence of its privileges. He catechized
and instructed the people, and by salutary advice, not less
than by example, instilled into their hearts the love and
practice of virtue. That nothing might be wanting, on his
part, to the fitting celebration of the Sacred Mysteries
on festivals, and to stimulate more the devotion of the
faithful, he had an organ erected in the small chapel, where,
owing to persecution, he was obliged to minister to his
flock. Though naturally an orator, he cultivated sacred
eloquence ; and such advantages did he derive from former
study, and wide reading, that some of the most powerful
discourses were delivered by him with but little, if any,
previous preparation. His conversation was graceful and
witty, and he was ever ready to illustrate a subject by
anecdotes. Owing to his reputation for learning, he was
often called on to decide complicated questions, and to settle

1 Most Rev. Dr. Healy, "Wardenship of Galway. I E. KECOEP, September,
1883.

OUR LADY OF GYOR, AND BISHOP WALTER LYNCH 197

difficult affairs. His table was frugal and plain, and he eat
sparingly ; when he accepted hospitality, it was solely to
afford friends the pleasure of his society. He collected
a considerable library, which was his greatest source of
enjoyment, but too soon he had to deplore the loss of this
valuable collection of books, for they were burned by the
* heretics.' Such is the character of the chief ecclesiastic
of Galway, given by his contemporaries.

It is needless to say, that Dr. Lynch took an active part
in the affairs of the country, and was most enthusiastic in
the Catholic cause. Exercising his spiritual authority as
Warden, he issued an excommunication against those who
subscribed to the terms of submission to the Earl of
Clanricarde, ' as after sufficient deliberation, we ourselves,
and all the doctors, . . . have found. . . . the former two
articles to be against the profession of Catholic faith, . . •
yea, intended for the extirpation of the said faith,' &C.1 This
document, which is dated 9th May, 1642, shows that Lynch
was then protonotary apostolic and Dean of Tuam.

In 1646, when Vicar- Capitular of Tuam, he addressed a,
letter to the Bishops of Waterford and Ferns respecting the
rejection of the peace of Limerick. This letter exhibits his
attachment to the Catholic cause, and his unwearying efforts
and self-denial in its service. In his anxiety to learn how
matters stood, and to discharge his mission, he relates that
he posted from Galway to Limerick, and

Totus sudore madens, et in ardentissime sole vix viribus et
corpore subsistens, I arrived at my lodging in the said Citie sed
respirare locus non fuit, when all the best of the clergie and
venerable fathers of the place came to my lodging, and were
soe joyfull of my commeing . . . that I could not take anny
leasure to refresh or with corporal food to repairs my tyred
body ; but I must satisfie their fervent desires, &c.

He states what he did, and adds : ' After this, at the
earnest entreaty of this virtuous and fervently zealous
clergie, I omitted dinner, and went presently to the Maiors
house.'

Here follows an interesting account of the business he

1Hardimau, History of Galway, p. 113.

198 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

transacted, and of the disturbance which then took place in
the city. The letter is dated Limerick, 21st August, 1646.1

For nearly forty years the see of Clonfert had been
vacant, and governed by vicars apostolic, from the death of
Thaddeus O'Farrell, O.P., at Kinsale,2 to 1641. In 1640,
the Archbishop of Tuam, the Bishop of Elphin, and the
Vicars Apostolic of Achonry and Killala, petitioned Pro-
paganda to give to the church of Clonfert a pastor in the
person of John de Burgo, for many years Vicar-General and
Commissary Apostolic. This appointment was made, and
he was preconised 12th August, 1641. De Burgo was
translated to Tuam in 1647.

The Nuncio Bimccini wrote to Cardinal Pamphili,
under date llth August, 1646, recommending Dr. Walter
Lynch, Vicar-Capitular of Tuam, for the see of Clonfert,
should De Burgo be translated to the archbishopric. He
said that Lynch was ' a learned man, an eloquent preacher
and possessed of much authority in the country, most
ardent for the Catholic cause, and supported by many of the
clergy and laity.' 3 A few months later, llth March, 1647,
Lynch was preconised bishop of Clonfert.4 He was not.
it seems, recommended for the dignity by the Supreme
Council of the Confederates, though it approved the choice
of him after the appointment. In a subsequent letter the
Nuncio reaffirms his testimony to the high character of
Lynch, and his fitness for the exalted and difficult office.
He wrote : —

Eegarding Lynch, whom the Pope has thought fit to send to
Clonfert, the testimony of Father Scarampi, who knew him well,
is quite enough. I thank God this provision was made, as every
day Lynch proves his merits to be greater. Since I came to
Galway, I noticed him to be more exact and diligent than all
others regarding divine worship. In everything he is attentive, a
good preacher and judge, and so beloved that no one, save the
envious, speaks ill of him.5

1 Gilbert's Contemporary History, vol. i., p. 6'-'7
1 Hibernia Dominicana, p. 486.

3 Rinuccini, Nunziatura, p. 152.

4 Brady, Epitcopal Succession, vol. ii., p. 216.

5 Xunziatura, p. 244.

OUR LADY OF GYOR, AND BISHOP WALTER LYNCH 199

Dr. Lynch was closely associated with the Confederate
Catholics. He was present at the Synod of "Waterford in
1646, and subscribed to its decrees. Owing to his facility
in writing, and despatch in transacting business, he was
appointed Secretary to the meetings of bishops at Clon-
macnoise and elsewhere. He was charged to conclude
a treaty with the Duke of Lorraine, in which negotiations
he exhibited the skill of a diplomatist. On one occasion
the Bishop of Clonfert joined the Archbishop of Tuam in
opposing the Nuncio at Galway. He pronounced the
funeral oration of the illustrious Archbishop of Dublin,
Thomas Fleming, who died at Galway, 2nd August, 1651,
and whose obsequies were held in the Franciscan Church.1
The following year Galway, the last stronghold of the
Nationalists, was taken; and Dr. Lynch, in company with
other bishops and priests, fled to the island of Innisboffin.
One of the number, writing from this retreat to Pope
Innocent X., describes their mode of life and sufferings.3

From this place the Bishop of Clonfert was deported
or escaped to Brussels, where he remained for a time. Of
his sojourn in Belgium I have found no trace. Thence he
travelled into Hungary, and took up his abode at Gyor,
bringing with him the painting of the Virgin and Child,
which afterwards became so famous. Here the bishop,
John Piisky, charitably received the poor exile, and
in 1655, consoled him with a stall in the Cathedral
chapter, to which the Archdeaconry of Papa was annexed,
and appointed him auxiliary bishop. For several years he
discharged the duties of his double office, and the old
visitation books show entries of functions performed (per
Episcopum Hibernum) by the Irish bishop. A pectoral
cross, blessed by Dr. Lynch for an abbot, together with
an authentication of the same, in his own handwriting, is
preserved in the treasury of the sacred picture.

Before leaving Ireland, this faithful pastor committed
the care of his beloved flock to others with whom he used

1 Meehan, Irish Hierarchy, |-c., p. 167.
2Moran, Spicilegium Ossorieme, vol. ii., p. 118.

200 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

to communicate by letter. As he became dissatisfied with
the administration of his diocese, he entrusted the charge
of it to Thomas De Burgo, a doctor of theology, whose
learning and integrity he had proved during an acquaintance
in Hungary, and named him Vicar-General. But an intruder
had seized on the government of the diocese, and disobeying
the bishop's repeated mandates refused to acknowledge
de Burgo, though supported by the Metropolitan. In this
condition of affairs, and having learned that the persecution
was abating, Lynch resolved to return to his diocese.
While preparing to set out for Ireland, he departed this life,
14th July, 1663, and went to his reward. His obsequies
were held in the Cathedral with every mark of respect due
to his dignity and virtues, and in the vaults beneath were
laid at rest the remains of this illustrious exile.

II.

Before giving the history of the Sacred Picture, I shall
say a word or two regarding the city and church, which
possess this venerated relic.

Gyor, or as the Austrians call it, Kaab, formerly a Eoyal
Free-town, and a fortified place of importance, is to-day
the capital of a province of that name in Hungary. The
seat of a bishop, a thriving commercial city, and a centre of
some industries, it is situated at the influx of the Kaba and
two other rivers into the Little Danube, and stands midway
between Vienna and Budapest. From either capital it may
be conveniently reached by train or steamer. The journey
from Vienna to Gyor, a distance of seventy-four and a-half
miles, can be made by train within two and a-half hours.
The population of Gyor including the two neighbouring
villages, separated only by the Danube and the Eabcza, is
thirty-five thousand. The majority of the inhabitants are
Catholics. There are members of the Greek Church and
Protestants, and the Hebrew element, rapidly increasing in
industrial centres throughout Hungary, is already strong
here.

Of the cathedral said to have been built in the time of
St. Stephen, no trace remains. The present one is partly

Supplement to the IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD — March, 1897.]

OUR LADY OF GYOR.

"CONSOLATRIX AFFLICTORUM."
[Prom a Photograph of the Miracttloits Picture in the Cathedral at Gyor, Hungary.}

OUR LADY OF GYOR, AND BISHOP WALTER LYNCH '201

Roman and partly Gothic, with the interior in good
Renaissance style. On the south side is a chapel in honour
of the Blessed Trinity, which contains the head of St.
Ladislaus enclosed in a silver reliquary. The chapel on the
north side is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and above the
altar hangs the Miraculous Picture, the subject of this paper.

The Cathedral contains other objects of minor interest.
Adjoining is the bishop's palace, a quaint but commodious
building with a lofty square tower, which commands a good
view of the city and surrounding country. Underneath the
palace are dungeons of the Turkish period. Close to it is the
episcopal seminary, which has a good library. An institution
worthy of a visit is the Benedictine gymnasium, which
contains a fine natural history collection, and a celebrated
museum of antiquities, the property of the order. The
buildings are palatial and extensive, and withirl them
superior education is given to upwards of three hundred and
fifty students. The studies include a complete gymnasium
course, and the school fees are merely nominal, the establish-
ment being maintained at the charge of the Arch-abbey of
Martinsberg, of which this is a branch house. Besides there
are many institutes, churches, and other objects of attraction
to interest an inquiring traveller for more than a day. But
to return to my subject.

After the death of Bishop Lynch the painting passed
into the possession of the Cathedral, and was hung on the
wall near the altar dedicated to St. Anne. There it remained
an object of devotion to the faithful, until 17th March, 1697.
On that morning, St. Patrick's Day, about six o'clock, whilo
Mass was being celebrated, at which many were present, a
bloody sweat was observed to come over the figure of our
Blessed Lady in the picture. When the painting was
wiped, and the blood removed by means of linen cloths,1 the

1 I saw one of these cloths which is preserved in the Cathedral Treasury.
It is under glass enclosed in a silver frame, and is presented to the faithful to
be kissed. The linen is now dark, and discoloured, as by faded blood stains.
On the back of the frame is an authentication in German, of which the following
is a translation : — ' This is the genuine cloth used to wipe the Picture, this work
of divine grace, which sweat blood in this Mortuary Church, on the 17th of
March, 1697. This cloth we shall now dedicate to our dear Mother and all the
saints in the honour of God.' Raab, 20th May, 1701.

202 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

sweat broke out anew, and continued for three hours, until
nine o'clock, a.m. The occurrence caused a rush to the
church on the part of the population of the city. Crowds,
young and old, Catholic and Calvinist, flocked hither to
witness the wonderful event. The painting was removed
from its place, and inspected closely in order to discover, if
possible, an explanation of this mystery. I shall allow a
coeval authority to describe, in his own words, what took
place on the occasion. Christopher Schogg, a Canon of the
Cathedral, who lived in the early decades of the eighteenth
century, and was intimately acquainted with contemporaries
and eye-witnesses of the prodigy, placed on record what he
gathered from them : —

It is impossible [he wrote] to describe the commotion which
arose owing to the holy horror, pious ardour and desire of
seeing it [the picture] close at hand. In order to obviate doubt
concerning the miracle, and any suspicion of possible latent
deception or fraud, the ecclesiastical authorities first had the
picture taken down from the wall, then denuded of the
ornamental frame, even stripped of the stretching laths, and
finally closely inspected and shaken. But, since it was found
free of natural moisture, and the wall quite dry, and, moreover,
being detached and held by the hands alone of priests over a
table, it ceased not to sweat blood ; this manifestly constituted a
miracle.

Immediately after this miraculous event, the governor of
the fortress of Gyor, Count Sigebert Heister and his wife,
Countess Aloysia Katzianer, the promoters of this special
devotion, erected at their expense an altar in honour of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and the sacred picture was placed
there, and visited by the faithful under the invocation of
Consolatrix Afflictorum. Another testimony is obtained
from the diary of the Confraternity of the Annunciation of
the Blessed Virgin, of which Michael Dumer was president.
He was a Jesuit and Professor in the College of the Society
in the city, and present on the occasion. Under date of
17th March, 1697, he noted : « On this day the picture

1 Extract from Canon Schogg's notes on the Holy Picture, preserved in the
Archives of the chapter at Gyor. See I. E. RECORD, Feb. 1897, p. 178 and fol.

OUR LADY OF GYOR, AND BISHOP WALTER LYNCH 203

of the Blessed Virgin in the Cathedral, began to weep
copiously.' l

A remarkable example occurs in the devotion of
Stephen Telekessy, a well-known Canon of the Cathedral,
and bishop-designate of Erlau, 1699, who, in his afflictions
betook himself to the altar ' of the Virgin Mary
that two years before had shed tears.'2 About the
same time lived Canon Matthew Bubnich (1688-1721),
who erected at his cost an organ in the choir,
facing the altar of the Blessed Virgin : furthermore, he
placed in the eastern hall of the chapter-house a sculptured
copy of the painting. He likewise donated a vineyard, the
income from which was to serve as a foundation for Masses,
and to keep, in perpetuity, a lamp burning before this
picture on Saturdays, and on the feast days of the Blessed
Virgin. Count Herster and his wife, already named, by a
deed dated Gyor, 1st Jan., 1715,^ made provision for singing
the litanies on Saturdays, and festivals of our Blessed Lady.
Foundations to keep lights constantly burning at the shrine,
and others of a character similar to those mentioned exist,
and their obligations are discharged to this day. Numerous
votive offerings of gold, silver, and precious stones have been
made at this altar, and testify to favours granted through
the intercession of Mary ' Consoler of the afflicted.'

The zealous servant of the Mother of God, Count

1 The entry runs thus : ' Mane hora 9111 Sacrum Cantatum : a prandiis
in Congregations Exhortatio, et Lytaniae in Templo. Hao die Imago
B. Virginia in Cathedral! Ecclesia incepit flere ubertina.' This diary is
now in the library of the Lyceum, Gyor.

a Extract from his letter to the Bishop of Gyor, Christian Augustus Duke
of Saxony, then residing at Vienna. See Documents, I. E. RECORD, February,
1897.

3 ' Nos S. Romani Imperil Comes Sibertus ab Heister, Sacratissimae
Caesareae, Regiaeque Mejestatis Generalis Campi Mareschallus . . . Gene-
ralatus Jaurinensis Supremus Gubernator, &c. ; memoriae commendamus tenor e
praesentium significantes quibus expedit, universis ; et imprimis quidem quod
nos Comes ab Heister ex innata, Divinitusque nobis Clementer elargita pietate,
Zeloque et cultu erga Deiparam Beatissimam Virginam Mariam observari
solito, Imaginem ejusdem Clementissimae Virginis, hie in Cathedral! Ecclesia
Jaurinensi ante octodecem annos, scilicet anno Jf 97 die vero I7ma Marti! mira-
culose guttas quasi sanguineas, praesente magna multitudine populi utriusque
Nationis, atque religionis tarn Catholicorum quam et Lutheranorum et
Calvinistarum sudantem debita cupiens prosequi veneratione in majorum cultua
ejusdem B. Virginis promotionem,' &c.

204 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Francis Zichy de Vasonked, Bishop of Gydr (1743-1783)
removed the altar given by Count Heister, and erected in its
stead the present magnificent marble structure in which the
miraculous picture, framed in silver, was placed. By an
endowment he provided for the daily celebration of mass at
8-30 at the shrine. The good Bishop is buried in front of
the altar, which spot he selected for his last resting-place.

A great quantity of gold and silver was taken from the
treasury of the sacred picture to assist in providing for
the defence of the country in the war with France, bat new
votive offerings replaced those lost. In 1874, Pius IX.
granted plenary indulgences on the feasts of St. Patrick and
the Annunciation, on which days the miraculous event is
annually celebrated.

The first centennial anniversary of the miracle was cele-
brated with fitting solemnity. The panegyric on the occasion
was preached by Anthony Majlath de Szekhely, Benedictine
Abbot of Borchim, and Canon of the Cathedral. In an
eloquent discourse he told the story of the wonderful picture.
He narrated how Bishop Lynch, banished for the faith
from his native country, saved from desecration and destruc-
tion, this precious relic, and, wandering through many lands,
safely brought it, his sole possession, to Gyor, where he was
received with honour, and found a home. After describing
the miraculous event, which was witnessed for hours by
hundreds and hundreds more, he noted that, often as the
figure of our Blessed Mother was wiped, it again ran with
drops of bloody sweat, that, trickling down, fell on the Sacred
Face of the Divine Infant, the marks of which may yet be
seen. Tracing the history of the devotion through the
century then completed, he mentioned the altars, founda-
tions, and votive offerings presented in honour of the Mother
of God, and in testimony of the miracle.

And now as to the picture itself. It is painted on
canvas, and its dimensions are twenty-six inches in height
by twenty inches in breadth. The mantle or outer robe of
the Blessed Virgin is blue, the inner garment or gown is red.
The coverlet on the couch of the Divine Child is brown, with
gold marking the pomegranate pattern. The crowns, which

OUR LADY OF GYOR, AND BISHOP WALTER LYNCH 205

are of gold and precious stones, were, it need scarcely be
remarked, afterwards added, at Gyor, They are modelled
on the style of the crown of St. Stephen, King of Hungary.
As to the artist of the picture, or even the school to which
it belongs, no opinion is ventured. A professional art critic
who kindly examined the photograph, suggests it is an
Italian painting of the seventeenth century school ; whereas
another supposes he finds traces of the Flemish school, and
of the style of Peter Pourbus of Bruges.

The time for holding the second centenary is at hand.
On St. Patrick's Day next the celebration will commence,
and preparations for it are in progress. It is not too much
to say that it is certain the miraculous event of two hundred
years ago will be worthily commemorated, and that the
festival will be marked by the grandeur and magnificence
of cere- monial which distinguish the Hungarian nation.

In conclusion, a word of gratitude may not be, it is
hoped, unfitly offered here to that noble people, whose
forefathers gave not only a home, but also a place in the
sanctuary of their glorious church to our exiled countryman,
and who, themselves, hold to-day his memory in veneration.
Writing of Walter Lynch, the present illustrious Bishop
of Gyor says, ' His life here,' it is related, 'was a mirror
of every priestly virtue.'

J. J. EYAN.

[NOTE. — It is, perhaps, unnecessary to remind the readers of
the I. E. RECORD that the event of which I have written
synchronizes with the year in which the most hurtful to the
Catholic faith, and iniquitous of the penal laws was passed.
In 1697 the Parliament passed the Act 9 Will. III., c. i., which
bears the title : ' An Act for banishing all Papists exercising any
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and all Regulars of the Popish clergy
out of the Kingdom.' I have not been able to fix the day this
enactment became law. Some of its provisions, however,
operated on 29th December that year, while others did not
come into force till 1st May, 1698. Light on this point would
be interesting. — J. J. R.]

[ 206 ]

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS

II.

IT is the boast of Anglicanism that it pays a peculiar
deference to historical facts. ' History,' says The
Church Times, ' is our best ally.' The guiding principle
of the so-called Reformation was, according to Canon
Carter (a great leader of Anglican thought), a 'tendency
to search into history, to test the present by the past,
rather than trust to the mere dicta of authority.' 1 But
perhaps the most complete glorification of the ' historical '
basis of divine faith, according to the Anglican theory, is
given by Canon Gore in his Roman Catholic Claims.2 In
this corrected edition of his book, which is, as a rule, con-
sulted by every High Churchman who has any inclination
Homewards, and has been known to ' settle ' many disturbed
minds, Canon Gore has given us two pages on the subject
of the rule of faith, which, it will be seen, culminates in a
study of history by the masters and guides of the mass
below. He is answering the question : ' How are we — not
professed theologians, nor even students — to find out the
" rule of faith " ? ' and he is meeting the objection that ' the
Eoman idea of Church authority gives a simpler remedy for
our difficulties. Theirs is a rule of faith of easy access.'

Canon Gore accordingly says that ' the individual Church-
man begins by submitting himself to be moulded by the
rule of faith which he receives.' ' Eeceives ' introduces a
little confusion already ; but let that pass. ' The proximate
authority,' he continues, * for each of us consists of the
personal teachers to whom, by God's providence, we are
subject.' A little more confusion is introduced by the
substitution of ' authority ' for ' rule of faith.' And it is to
be noticed that the ' proximate authority ' is not, with
Canon Gore, the teaching of the Church, but our first

1 The Roman Question, 2nd Ed., p. 166.

2 3rd Ed., pp. 48, 49.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 207

teachers, who may or may not represent the Church. And
so by slipping in the word ' authority,' and also retaining
the word ' proximate,' he has succeeded in throwing the
whole subject into confusion ; for the proximate rule of
faith is the rule by which the faith is brought to our doors.
A ' proximate authority ' may be what that rule involves,
but the expression indicates a relation to some other
authority, not simply the relation of the rule to the soul.

That Canon Gore is in a complete mist as to the sense
of the mere terms, and has changed their meaning from that
which they bear in Catholic terminology, is evident from
what he goes on to say. For having told us that ' side by
side with the personal teachers, and controlling them [sic]
are the written formulas of the Church,' he says, ' thus the
personal teachers and the formulas, taken together contribute
the proximate rule of faith.' It is clear that this is absolute
nonsense, unless Canon Gore is putting his own meaning on
the terms ' proximate rule of faith.' With us they mean the
living rule, as compared with (so to speak) the dead rule :
the speaking, as compared with the silent rule : the form of
our faith, as compared with its material. With Canon Gore
they mean something quite different; that is to say, the mere
terms have undergone a change of meaning. Proximate,
as applied to authority, means with him, provisional, as a
court of first instance ; as applied in this sense to the ' rule
of faith ' it is meaningless.

But Canon Gore proceeds with this jumble of terms,
to say that 'this proximate rule of faith [i.e., the personal
teachers and the formulas] is not the ultimate authority.'
This, of course, is exactly what the proximate rule is with
the Catholic. The faith of the Catholic is based on the
Word of God ; but the rule by which he gets at that Word,
and is guided in the interpretation of the Divine revelation, is
the authority of the Church, which is ultimate or final. But
Canon Gore actually goes on in the next line to identify his
' ultimate rule of authority ' (note the fresh confusion by the
introduction of the word ' rule ') with ' the remoter rule ' of
faith, the name which he now gives to the ultimate, as con-
trasted with the proximate authority. And ' this ultimate

208 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

rule of authority — the remoter rule ' — is what ? ' This
' remoter rule of faith,' he says, ' involves, as we have seen, a
comparison of records, a searching into the past traditions
of the Church.' So that instead of the ' remoter rule
of faith ' being, as in the Catholic definition of it,
Scripture and tradition, i.e., a silent, and in a sense, dead
rule, whilst the proximate rule is the living teaching of the
Catholic Church, which brings Scripture and tradition up
to the door of the soul, with Canon Gore the remoter
rule of faith, which he identifies with the 'ultimate authority,'
consists in the principle that we get behind the authority
which comes to us first in order, and control and correct it
by a ' comparison of records, a searching into the past
traditions of the Church.'

Thus not a vestige of the Catholic rule of faith remains
after Canon Gore's mixture. It is completely purged away.
Nothing whatever is eventually received on authority ; the
' remoter rule of faith ' has not been brought into operation
until we have compared records and searched into past
traditions. Only then has the soul got through and behind
the proximate rule of faith, as Canon Gore calls it ; only
then does it reach the ' ultimate rule of authority,' as he
calls the last process. It is, then, in the ultimate analysis,
pure, unmitigated, private judgment that Canon Gore
upholds. But the absurdity of making this -search and
comparison, this verifying process, the rule of faith for the
multitude, seems to have struck Canon Gore himself. And
so he deals with this difficulty as follows : — ' Such research
is only possible, comparatively for a few, and only a few are
capable of undertaking it. But the few act for the many.'
So that the many have to make their rule of faith obedience
to the authority of the few. They have, in fact, a different
rule of faith. But they may be consoled by the following
consideration : — ' The fact that competent persons are con-
stantly engaged in this verifying process of comparison and
research guarantees [sic] that the current Church teaching
is being kept pure from accretion.' Thus everything hangs
on the ' competent persons.' Of course, if they are
guaranteed from error, the fact of their being constantly

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 209

engaged in the verifying process will guarantee the parity
of the current Church teaching ; but this would be to
attribute the prerogative of infallibility, either to several
individuals, or to a ' collectivity ' of ' competent persons.'
In which case all the Protestant objections to infallibility
would, in good logic, revive in tenfold force.

Nevertheless, this is what the Anglican theory involves —
either 110 guarantee, or a blind dependence on a few ' com-
petent persons,' who are practically treated as infallible,
without a divine promise or a divine selection. The High
Anglican, as I have said, parades his peculiar deference to
history. His is pre-eminently 'historical Christianity;' he
tells you that he does not ignore facts and depreciate the
verifying process, the comparison of records, or the search
into the past traditions of the Church. But if you ask him
whether he has done this himself, he replies, ' No;' someone
else is doing it, or has done it, for him. They are ' com-
petent ' persons. Canon Liddon was in the habit of saying,
for the last twenty years of his life, that he had not gone
into certain historical questions concerning the early Church,
on which, nevertheless, the truth or falsity of his position,
on his own theory, depended ; but that Dr. Pusey had done
it, and he could trust Dr. Pusey. He was one of Canon
Gore's ' competent persons.' I propose, therefore, to
conclude this article with two or three hitherto unnoticed
instances, sufficiently startling, of the way in which history
has been treated by this leader of Anglican thought, who
went by Canon Gore's ' remoter rule of faith,' or 'ultimate
rule of authority; ' that is to say, who was ' engaged in the
verifying process of comparison and research.'

But before doing so, it may be well to notice a remark-
able fact about the Church of England, in view of this claim
to represent ' historical Christianity.' It is this. For three
centuries of her existence she produced no single history of
the Church. One would have thought that, her literature
would have been teeming with histories. But when
Dr. Dollinger wrote his first history, and gave a list of the
chief books he consulted, Protestant as well as Catholic, he
had to avow that he had gained nothing from England.

VOL. I. O

210 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

German Protestantism had at least produced a Neander, but
not so the 'historical Christianity' of England. It seemed
to have dropped ecclesiastical history, and to have assumed
that it is known by intuition, and could be taken as a matter
of course. One really great writer on history stands out by
himself, but he hails from Ireland, as though the atmosphere
of a Catholic country had suffused something of itself into
a Protestant Archbishop. I mean, of course, Ussher, who
did some good work in the sources of English history. But
he did not actually write a history of the Church. And as
for England, she was completely out of the running. A
witness above suspicion, The Church Quarterly Review, has
recently remarked on this peculiar feature of the literature
of the Church of England. Speaking of the time when the
Tractarian movement began, the writer of an article on the
seventh (Ecumenical Council (July, 1896, p. 451) says ; —

English histories of the Church were non-existent. Attention
was for the most part confined to the three first centuries, and
perhaps the first History of the Catholic Church which was pub-
lished in this country was tbat issued in A.D. 1833, under the
auspices of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,
written by the late Dean Waddington, of Durham. And in his
history, laborious though its compilation was, it is a remarkable
fact that there is scarcely any mention of the Council of Chalcedon,
held A.D. 451, excepting in the casual observation that by its
twenty-ninth [sic] canon the see of New Eome was -to have the
same advantages with that of Old Rome in the ecclesiastical
constitution. 1

Consequently, Dr. Pusey, acting more or less as a pioneer,
laboured under all the drawbacks of such a role, and one
would be glad to think that the innumerable mistakes he
made may be at least in part attributed to his exceptional
position. But what of the reliance placed on him by
members of the Anglican cult, as one of the ' competent
persons ' engaged in the ' comparison of records and a search
into the past traditions of the Church ' ?

In his celebrated Eirenicon, of which the sale was
enormous, and which was greeted with a shout of applause

*

1 Page 116.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 211

by high Anglicans, which has not yet died out, Dr. Pusey
drew up a list of what he called ' instances of infallibility ;'
i.e., supposed infallible utterances of popes, which put the
idea of their infallibility out of the question. At the end of
the list he says : — ' I have set down no difficulty which I do
not myself think insurmountable.' l

One of these ' insurmountable difficulties ' in the way of
believing in Papal Infallibility is thus stated : —

Then also [i.e., if the Pope is infallible] Pope Celestine was
equally infallible when he declared that ' the charge of teaching
has descended [from the Apostles] equally upon all bishops . . .'
He charged them with it as a duty devolving equally upon all.2

The italics are Dr. Pusey's. The whole stress of the
argument is laid on the word ' equally.' If they are all
equal, one cannot be infallible, as distinguished from the
rest. To this quotation a note is appended in which
Dr. Pusey says, ' I have adopted the translation in Allies'
Church of England, from Fleury, xxv. 47, Oxf. Tr.

Now Allies' Church of England cleared from Schism is a
well-known book, written when the author was a Protestant,
and still read by members of the Church of England with
consoling effects. And a very able book it is. But
Mr. Allies, at that time the best authority on such subjects
in the Church of England, depended implicitly in this
particular reference on Fleury ; and Fleury, a Gallican
a Voutrance, has simply mistranslated the passage. The word
'equally' does not occur in it at all. Celestine speaks of the
charge of teaching having descended on the bishops in
common. Now we know that a community of possession may
involve a diversity of share. A common commission to an
army to assist a colony in the name of Her Majesty con-
templates various relationships of subordination between
those who are sent to act in common. Fleury, however,
substituted ' egalement,'a and misled Mr. Allies in his
Protestant days, and Dr. Pusey depended on Mr. Allies years
afterwards, instead of looking at the original. The difficulty
was only ' insurmountable ' because this obvious course was

317. -Page 307. 3Lib. 25. 47.

212

not adopted. A glance at the original would have prevented
Dr. Pusey from standing forth as the champion of Anglicanism
against Papal Infallibility, on, at any rate, this point of
Celestine's letter to the Council of Ephesus. Five years
afterwards, Dr. Pusey discovered this ; and in an appendix
to the Eirenicon (little read) he quietly dropped the word
' equally,' which was the pivot of his argument in 1865, and
argued, in 1870, as though the objection originally derived
from the word ' equally ' still held good, because Celestine
speaks of the whole Council as inspired by the Holy Ghost
in a way which he does not claim for himself. But here he
simply ' loads the dice.' For he makes Celestine say that
' the Council is the visible display of the presence of the
Holy Ghost.' There is no 'the' in the original, which
makes all the difference. But why did not Dr. Pusey openly
admit that the word ' equally ' anyhow does not present an
' insurmountable difficulty,' seeing that it does not exist as
he tacitly admits, when he translates it 'in common ' in this
third part of his Eirenicon ?

The work, however, was done, and lo ! another ' com-
petent person,' engaged in that ' comparison of records and
the search into the past,' which is to Canon Gore the
' remoter rule of faith,' falls into the same trap. This time
it is the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford,
Canon Bright. The same translation of the -passage in
St. Celestine's letter is trotted out at Oxford in the notes to
a lecture on ' The Roman Claims tested by Antiquity ' (still
circulated by the English Church Union), and the same
reference to Fleury reappears (1877, p. 11) ! This, too, at
last — when pointed out in my book on The Primitive
Church and the See of Peter — is silently dropped, and the
true translation given, whence no argument is, or could be
drawn, and full revenge is taken on the discoverer of the
mistranslation by a running fire of comments on enormities
supposed to have been committed by him.2

1 shall now take one more instance of the ' insurmount-

1 Cf. Part iii., p. 257.

'2Roman Sec in the Early Church, p. 1 60.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS '213

able difficulties ' with which Dr. Ptisey presents us. He
says : —

Then [i.e., if the Pope is infallible] St. Leo IX. was infallible
when he said : — ' The humility of these venerable Pontiffs, worthy
of all imitation, considering that the chief of the Apostles is not
found called universal Apostle, utterly rejected that proud name
by which their equality of rank seemed to be taken away from all
prelates throughout the world, in that a claim was made for one
upon the whole.'

The italics are Dr. Pusey's, and the reference is again to
Mr. Allies' book, written when a Protestant. This ' insur-
mountable difficulty ' in the way of believing in Papal
Infallibility, is adroitly introduced, to substantiate Dr. Pusey's
interpretation of St. Gregory the Great's refusal of the title,
Universal Bishop, which had been claimed by John the
Faster, of Constantinople, in a hyper-Papal sense. It
seemed, however, so inconceivable that St. Leo IX., who
excommunicated the Eastern Emperor, should have left
himself open to the misconstruction put upon the quotation
by Dr. Pusey, that I thought it worth while to read the
whole letter through. It is a very long one.

Now, in the first place, Dr. Pusey omits the lines
preceding his quotation, which throw an altogether different
light on the words he quotes. St. Leo says : — ' And to
whom, after Jesus Christ, could this name be more fitly
applied than to the successors of Peter ? ' — words which
imply some inequality between those successors and the
other bishops. And Dr. Pusey's translation of the words
following is not exact. St. Leo does not say ' in that a claim
was made for one upon the whole,' but, speaking of the
' equal rank,' as Dr. Pusey calls it (par dignitas), he says
that the Apostle

Eepudiated a proud term by which a like dignity seemed to
be withdrawn from all the prelates throughout the world, while
it was arrogated to himself by one out of the whole, as though
[i.e., the term being thus understood as a proud title should be
refused as though] each said by words and deeds what their
Master, and the first to be crucified, says : — ' I am not worthy to
place my head above, but to bend my face down to the earth ' —

214 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

alluding to St. Peter's crucifixion. Now, why did Dr. Pusey
omit this remaining part of the sentence from which he
quoted, when it speaks of St. Peter as the "Master" of
the Apostles, and so (by inference from the first omitted
lines) of the successors of Peter as similarly the masters of
the bishops ? We may safely presume that he did not go
to the original, or he would have seen that the ' like dignity,'
or, as he calls it, the ' equal rank ' (par dignitas), was the
status of bishop, qua bishop, the denial of which was
involved in John the Faster's particular use of the term
universal bishop, which term was on that account — and not
by way of denying the supreme jurisdiction of the see of
Peter — repudiated by Gregory.

But, further, Dr. Pusey' s difficulty would have been
more than surmounted if he had read the letter of Leo IX.
to the end. It is, indeed, one of the longest letters on
record ; but, surely, considering that Dr. Pusey was flying
the Anglican colours high before the Christian world, he
ought to have made a little sure of his ground. St. Leo, in
the 13th section of this letter, quotes with approval some
supposed \vords of the Emperor, in which he says of ' the
Most Holy See of Peter ' that—

We sanction by decree that it should hold the sovereignty
[principatus] as well over the four sees — Alexandria, Antioch,
Jerusalem, Constantinople — as also over all the Churches of
God in the world ; and that he who, for the time being, is
Pontiff of the Sacrosanct Eoman Church should be higher than
and prince of all the priests of the whole world, and by his
judgment all that shall have to be procured for the worship of
God, or the stability of the faith of Christians, should be
arranged.2

All this Leo IX. adopts. But, further, he says : —

For the faith of the Eoman Church, built through Peter on a
rock, neither until now fails, nor will fail through the ages, Christ
its Lord praying for it, as He testifies close to His Passion : ' I
have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not ; and thou, when
thou art converted, confirm thy brethren.' By which saying He
plainly showed that the faith of the brethren would be in danger

i Ma»si, xix. 643.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 215

through various failures, but, by the unshaken and unfailing
faith of Peter, it would be fixed as by the aid of a firm anchor,
and would be confirmed in the foundation of the Universal
Church ; which nobody denies, save he who evidently impugns
these very words of truth. For he knows that, as the whole
door is governed by the hinge, so the well-being of the whole
Church is governed [or arranged, disponitur] by Peter and his
successors ; and as the hinge, remaining immovable, draws the
door backwards and forwards, so Peter and his successors have
unfettered judgment concerning the whole Church, since no ono
ought to move their position, because the highest see is judged
by none/2

All this occurs in the same letter to the Patriarch
Michael, from which Dr. Pusey extracts a sentence to show
that St. Leo IX. did not believe in Infallibility; for, on the
hypothesis of his infallibility, he would be infallible in
deprecating the prerogative, as Dr. Pusey thinks he does in
those few words torn from their context. But Dr. Pusey
had only to look to the original to see that in the very same
letter, Leo IX. expressly asserts the infallibility of the Holy
See. Yet Dr. Pusey is one of those ' competent persons '
who was constantly engaged in the ' verifying process,' ' the
comparison of records, the search into the past traditions
of the Church,' which constitutes, in Canon Gore's theory,
the ' remoter rule ' of faith, the ' ultimate rule of authority.'

Certainly, if the words of the Popes may be dealt with
as in the two instances just given, The Church Times may
well speak of history as their best ally. But if such amazing
manipulation of authors is a sign of profound ignorance
of their meaning, to take the most charitable line, what
becomes of the ' remoter rule ' of faith which, according to
Canon Gore, consists in such a verifying process, and of the
competence of the few ' who act for the many ' ?

LUKE KIVINGTON, M.A.

1 Mansi, xix. 653.

[ 210 ]

THE LATE REV. JOHN GOWAN, CM.

FOUNDER OF THE SISTERHOOD OF THE HOLY FAITH

IT is no easy thing to sketch, even in brief outline, the
life, work, and character of a man of God, particularly
when, as often happens, the subject of the endeavour has
tried to hide his personality behind the name of an order or
congregation, or of the agency through which his concep-
tions see the light. So it is in the case of the late Father
Gowan. In all his work after he had joined them till near
the end he was simply one of the Vincentian fathers. In
what remains now his greatest monument, existing in
visible, concrete form, living and vivifying — the Sisterhood
of the Holy Faith and their schools, and their special initial
work, St. Brigid's Orphanage — his creating and organizing,
directing and conserving hand remained hidden during the
lifetime of Miss Aylward. Had she outlived him, it is
probable that the fact that she was the Foundress of the
Institute only under him, the real Founder, would have
remained hidden until his death, when the love of his
spiritual daughters would have assuredly revealed, it. What
wonder, then, that the obituary notices of such a man have
been indeed sketchy and inadequate.

Nor is it in the hope or presumption of doing much
better that the present writer pens this tribute to the
memory of this father and friend, friend to him as to all
priests who consulted this wise counsellor. As of old,
monuments were raised to the mighty dead of our race by
each clansman and kinsman adding a stone to pile up the
cairn higher and higher : or, as the "poor will bring humble
flowers to place on Father Gowan's grave, side by side with
the rich wreaths of the wealthy, in some such way is this
simple monograph put forward among more polished
sketches, penned by defter hands. I only claim space to
mention certain works and indicate traits of character

THE LATE REV. JOHN GOWAN, CM. 217

either unknown to, or untouched, or touched too lightly, by
the writers of previous sketches.

Had Father Gowan died half-a-dozen years ago, the
ordinary worldling, even of his native diocese, would have
sketched his life in some such form as this : Born April 9,
1817, in the seaport town of Skerries, he early felt called to
the priesthood. He studied in MaynOoth College, and was
ordained in 1840. For some ten years he laboured in the
parish of Glendalough, when he entered the Congregation
of the Mission, of which he remained a faithful member for
well-nigh half a century, unto his death on January 16th
of the present year.

How bald and bare is such an outline ! And yet the
arid, sandy surface of the Band did not hide, away such
precious gold and gems as these few finger-posts on his
life's journey indicate to those who knew this man of God,
and his ways and his works. All forceful things in nature
seek the light. We read that even mushroom growths have
burst the solid stone. And so the strong, sound seeds
planted by this tiller in God's vineyard burst even through
the repressing obstacle of his own modesty, and proclaimed
the hand of the planter. Ere God called him home to
Himself everyone had come to know that Ireland, just
fresh from persecution, had produced another Founder to
rank with the Columbas and Columbanuses, of our past
history, with St. Francis de Sales and Venerable John
Eudes, and Pere Varin of another, albeit kindred race, in
modern times. The history of the founding of the Sister-
hood of the Holy Faith remains to be written. But the
bare facts are these :

Some forty years ago, among Father Gowan's penitents
was Margaret Aylward, in whose humility, fortitude, and zeal
he discerned the heaven-designed instrument for a much-
needed work. Proselytism was rife, its agents unscrupulous,
their means abundant. This wise priest thought out a plan,
needing funds indeed, but not so large an initial or continued
outlay as would the building and maintenance of an
orphanage of the usual kind. Moreover, his plan is safer
and more fruitful in its results for the spiritual and temporal

218 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

future of the orphans. Anyone calling at St. Brigid's
Orphanage, 46, Eccles-street, finds there only the nun in
charge, no children. The orphans are boarded out in the
wholesome homes of holy Ireland. There they have not the
hot-bed lives of the usual orphanage. They know life as it
is. They form one of the family. Through after years they
are not strangers to the saving memories of a Christian
home, the want of which no care conferred in crowded insti-
tutions can ever make up for. Often the orphans are adopted,
and become the stay and solace of their foster-parents. So
striking has been the success of the plan that our best
Boards of Guardians have taken it up as a means of lifting
pauper children from the damning degradation of poorhouse
rearing.

Such was the first work Father Gowan set before
Margaret Aylward. The Orphanage opened January 1st,
1857. But soon other avenues of zealous activity opened
out before her and Ada Allingham, and the other fervent
Irish souls who came to help. In 1860 the Sisterhood was
launched, Margaret Aylward and Ada Allingham being the
two first members. The Bagged Schools of the Coombe
and elsewhere, offering bread and soup to the starving
children of sick, or poor, or drunken parents, in exchange
for the souls of God's little ones, demanded counteraction.
So schools were built on the Coombe, Clarendon-street, and
Little Strand-street. Soon others sought for foundations,
and now many houses exist throughout the counties of
"Wicklow, Dublin, and Kildare, not only for the poor, but
for all who seek to get for very moderate fees an education
whose dominant notes are love and devotion to Faith and
Fatherland.

But it would be a mistake to suppose that Father
Gowan 's life-work was confined to the founding of the
Sisterhood of the Holy Faith, and to the various works of
that Institute, although such a life-work alone were worthy
of any of God's greatest heroes. His labours were manifold
and all singularly fruitful. His record as Curate of Glen-
dalough was in itself enough to sanctify his name. All
the priests of Ireland were then heroic ; but among them all

THE LATE REV. JOHN GOWAN, C.M. 219

Father Gowan's figure stands out pre-eminent, outrivalling
even the sublime self-sacrifice of his friend and former class-
mate, the late lamented Bishop Duggan. It is remarkable
that this great prelate was drawn to this kindred spirit to
make just before his death last Autumn, a ten days' Retreat
under his guidance. No less noteworthy is it that Father
Go wan himself was just finishing a Retreat before he him-
self was called away home. His labours, his devotedness,
his self-sacrifice, leading him to subsist in the famine years
on a little porridge, are not forgotten in the mountains to
this day. His name and fame are as fresh and as fondly
spoken to-day by the grandchildren of those whom he edified,
as are those of the best-beloved dispensers of the sacraments
now on the days of their leaving. Love begets love ; and
Father Gowan's thoroughly Celtic heart so loved his people
as to be ready to die for them, to go very near to dying in
reality for them, starving himself that he might be able to
prolong the life of some famine-stricken fellow-creature, and
only taking enough food to keep him alive to anneal and
anoint the dying.

It may be that the knowledge he then gained of the
holy homes of Ireland explains the genesis of the plan of his
Orphanage. He saw the people in the comparative plenty
of the pre-famine years, in the glowing glory of O'Connell's
days, in the sublime renunciation of a law-begotten vice at
the preaching of Father Mathew. He saw them in all their
joyousness in the good^days, when the ' cups'1 were plenteous.
He saw them again in their sorrow. He saw them in the
awful maddening agonies of hunger. He saw them in the
depths of despond. But they never despaired. And they
died blessing God for their sufferings sooner than take the
souper's food at the cost of their souls. He saw and never
forgot. How he loved the Wicklow people may in some
measure be gleaned from some lectures he delivered about
four years ago. An English lady, recently recalling these
lectures, said : ' There was not a dry eye in the hall, as. the
holy man described the martyr- like patience of the people

1 A kind of potato, particularly nutritious, but all blighted afterwards.

220 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

during the famine and fever-plague.' His experience of
those dread times left another effect to which we shall refer
later on.

His works, after entering the Congregation, may be put
under four or five heads. For the first half-dozen years or
thereabouts, he worked as a ' Missioner,' to use the term
applied to those members of religious communities who
assist the parochial clergy by giving missions. Afterwards
for a decade or more, in addition to his work of Founder,
he taught the English Composition Class in Castleknock.
Early in the seventies he was appointed Spiritual Director
to the Diocesan College of Holy Cross, Clonliffe, and soon
after lecturer on Sacred Eloquence in the National College,
Maynooth. All through from his becoming a Vincentian
he continued down almost to his death to give Retreats
to priests and to religious communities. Just five weeks
before his death he pleaded the cause of his Orphans from
the pulpit of St. Francis Xavier's Church, Gardiner-street,
with a power and eloquence astonishing at his age.

Many explanations have been given of the charm of his
style in preaching and lecturing. His undoubted sincerity,
' heart speaking to heart,' is generally set down as the secret
of this charm. But it is not this alone. Many speakers,
whose sincerity is evident, fail to move as- he moved his
hearers. His style and manner were so simple as to lead
many, indeed all but the deepest thinkers, to fancy that they
were unstudied, and that their whole force lay in the
sincerity of the speaker. But in truth, all his utterances,
even when not formally thought out, were the result of
previous thought. His self-sacrificing, self- starvation during
the famine had so permanently weakened his system that
he could never afterwards study in the usual sense of the
word. He could no longer sit down to pore for hours con-
tinuously over books, to collect and collate, and write out
elaborately. Yet his language was ever pure and correct,
and his arrangement most orderly. Apropos of this I may
mention an incident which occurred just nine days before
his death. A dramatic performance was given by the pupils
of his own Convent of the Holy Faith, Glasnevin. Towards

THE LATE REV. JOHN GOWAN, CM. 221

the close of the entertainment a learned Jesuit, himself a
great master of style, said to the present writer : ' I hope
Father Gowan will give some address ; I love to hear him ;
his language is always so pure and correct.' Other qualities,
such as his earnestness, which was the out-bursting of the
most lively faith, the most sentient grasp of supernatural
things, deep-rooted in an ardent nature, contributed to his
power as a speaker. But the careless cannot quote him as
an excuse for their own laziness in preparation. When he
could not pore, he pondered ; and if his utterances were so
simple in beauty, so fitted to their purpose, so striking to
the mind's eye of the most critical, it was the result of
habits of orderly thought, and the deepest study of the rules
of composition, made in youth ere want brought on the
weakness which barred plodding application.

All who, like the present writer, had the good fortune to
hear his lectures on English composition, will agree that,
although they may have met more showy, they never met a
more effective professor. He had a wonderful faculty of
securing the attention of all his class, even of persons who
never paid attention in other classes. And he had an
inspired way of dropping words of counsel that abode for
ever in the minds of the hearers, and moved them to action.
As an instance, he once uttered the prophecy : ' The days
are coming, and they are near at hand, when everyone who
loves his creed and country ought to be prepared to turn the
marrow of his bones into materials to defend both against
their enemies. Therefore, learn to 'write, &c.' Some at
least of his hearers have never ceased to hear these words
ringing in their ears, spurring them to action.

But what above all gave the tone to his style were his
love of nature and his intense love of Ireland and of Ireland's
faith. He loved nature as God made it. He loved human
nature as Christ redeemed and restored it. He loved Irish
human nature, Irish Catholic human nature, as the dearest
flowering of virtue in God's garden. His remembrance of
the famine, artificially created by bad laws, allowed to slay
its tens and hundreds of thousands — first, by the heartless
indifference, and afterwards by' the wasteful stupidity, of the

222 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

alien Government and its agents — gave an intense fierce-
ness to his patriotism. He abhorred the degraded patriotism
now blatantly boastful, which would divorce the union of
creed and country, and so would work in the name of
patriotism the worst evil for Erin which her foes have long
sought in vain to do. Such false patriotism, if generally
adopted, would soon slay Ireland's nationality after slaying
the bond of faith, as happened to the Jews when they
rejected God, because He would not bring them an earthly
kingdom. The shamrock, sacred symbol, is emerald in hue,
triune in form. When the hue fades, the shamrock withers
and dies. Shorn of a leaf, it is no longer our emblem. So
with the faith of him who loves not Ireland. It fades and
fails before foreign frowns and fashions. So too the patriotism
that is not true to God cannot be trusted by man, or at best
would be a lowering love that would sell the soul to batten
the body. Such linked love, such perfect patriotism, was
Father Gowan's. All the more truly did he long for Ireland's
freedom, as he saw in the dominant influence an elaborate
contrivance for sending the purest men and maidens on
earth away from their pure homes to be despoiled of virtue
and degraded into the depths of vice. He loved every legend
of our race, every holy well, and every ruined fane. He
loved to give in his class such subjects as ' The Well,' ' The
Churchyard,' ' The Chapel Bell.' This love of Ireland, this
knowledge of Irish ways, aided by a wealth of aptest
anecdote and illustration, joined to a style exemplifying his
oft-impressed qualities of good writing, viz., 'perspicuity,
simplicity, and pith,' and sent home with the ardent
intensity of an earnest conviction and desire of convincing,
and all illumined and heated up and endowed with the fiery
force of God's Holy Spirit, made the charm of his eloquence.
And now I feel I have trespassed on the space to be in
reason expected ; not, indeed, far enough for the merit of my
subject, but too far for the value of my treatment thereof.
Yet I have not culled a tithe of the flowers that might be
easily gathered from the life of this holy priest to lay upon
his grave. I only hope that these words of mine may give
some comfort to his spiritual daughters, who would be

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 223

inconsolable were they not confident that his spirit watches
over them from heaven. For himself, the writer thanks
God for having known one so holy, so wise a counsellor, so
true a friend, so ardent a patriot, so edifying a priest. Of
him it may be said, as the great Hildebrand said of himself,
' he loved justice and hated iniquity.' He was like the
patient Gentile of Holy Writ — ' simple, upright, and fearing
God, and avoiding evil.' 1 As he once said of himself, in the
hopeless time following '48, ' he fled from the storms of the
world to the shelter of Castleknock.' He there found peace,
the nursing mother of good works. In peace he brought
forth great things that live after him. And now God has
taken him to His own peace, to his true home, where he can
plead for his friends, his orphans, his spiritual daughters,
and his dear, long-suffering country.

FKANCIS MACENEENY.

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF 'THE
IMITATION OF CHRIST'?

III.

HAVING briefly reviewed the history of the times and
surroundings wherein Thomas a Kempis lived, and
sketched an outline of his career, I come to the least
grateful portion of my task — namely, the story of the con-
troversy which long raged about the authorship of The
Imitation of Christ, and which, after one fashion or another,
ever sought to deprive the saintly Canon of Agnetenberg
of the glory of having brought the precious volume into
existence.

Many who know The Imitation well, who study it con-
stantly and love its words of holy wisdom, are unaware that
it has been the subject of one of the most extraordinary
controveries known in the history of literature — a controversy
often heated, occasionally bitter, not always carried on with

1 Job i.

224 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

dignity and straightforwardness, and unhappily displaying at
times evil passions which the writer of the book would have
condemned emphatically. This strange contention touches
the authorship of the golden treatise, and has given origin to
several hundred essays, more or less voluminous.

Let us see how all this came to pass. The Imitation of
Christ appeared anonymously, as was frequent with books
in those days, and very natural for the work of one who
dwells on the maxim, ' Love to be unknown and valued as
nothing.' So far as an exhaustive investigation leads we are
drawn to the conviction that it appeared in the first third of
the fifteenth century, and from that period spread rapidly
and widely, being extensively transcribed and circulated
throughout the monastic world. There is not the faintest
evidence that it existed before the period named, notwith-
standing untenable statements advanced to the contrar3r.

During the lifetime of Thomas a Kempis the authorship
of The Imitation was distinctly attributed to him by members
of his own Order, who necessarily had the best possible
information on the subject. Moreover, its parentage, so far
from being denied by Thomas, who certainly was not a man
to borrow the plumes of others, was tacitly accepted by him
when he placed it in his manuscript of 1441, at the head of
a series of other treatises, which we have the strongest
reason to believe were of his own composition. The world
at large was left in ignorance upon the subject, and formed
its opinions according as it was led.

At an early period of its history The Imitation was
attributed to St. Bernard. Nothing could be more natural.
Some early manuscripts and editions actually appeared under
his name. In tone of thought it strongly resembles his
works ; but when it was discovered that it quotes St. Francis
of Assisi, who was born nearly thirty years after the death
of St. Bernard, it became evident that the Abbot of
Clairvaux could not have been the author. No mistake
could be more excusable. Anyone who studies the book
closely, side by side with the works of St. Bernard, will
understand how natural it was, from intrinsic evidence, that
it should have been attributed to him at the first blush ;

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 225

but will also realise that the latinity of The Imitation proves
that he could not have been the author. No two styles of
expression or diction could be more radically different.

In turn the authorship has been erroneously assigned
to many others, whose claims vanish upon investigation.
Amongst these I may mention St. Bonaventure, Thomas
Gallus, Henry de Kalcar, Landolph of Saxony, Ubertinus
de Cassalis, Innocent III., Piedro Kainaluzzi, John
Tambaco, John Charlier de Gerson, the mighty Chancellor
of the University of Paris, and John a Kempis, the elder
brother of Thomas.

Early in the seventeenth century a certain mythical
candidate for the authorship of The Imitation of Chrixt was
introduced upon the stage, and all the influence of the great
Order of St. Benedict was put forward to substantiate his
pretensions. This claimant is the so-called John Gersen,
who is said to have existed, to have been a Benedictine, and
to have flourished in the thirteenth century as Abbot at
Vercelli in Piedmont. By-and-by we shall investigate his
position.

In fine, I believe I may safely state that the only
candidates for the authorship of the great book whose
pretensions need discussion are — Thomas a Kempis, John
Charlier de Gerson, and the so-called John Gersen of
Vercelli. A few critics have adopted a curious theoiy
concerning the authorship of The Imitation which scarcely
requires notice. They reject all the candidates hitherto
named, and argue that the author is unknown, but of date
anterior to a Kempis. Their peculiar contention will be
considered in due course.

We shall commence by considering the claims of
Thomas a Kempis. Already we have seen something of his
life, and of the surroundings amidst which it was spent, and
can therefore understand how peculiarly capable he was of
putting together this masterpiece of ascetical teaching.
Trained in the school of spirituality inaugurated by Groot,
Badewyn, Vos van Huesden, Vornken, and their companions,
his mind became the mirror of their teaching and transferred
itself to the pages of The Imitation. An ascetic in the
VOL. i, y

226 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

highest sense of the word, he wrote for those within the
cloister, and so truthfully, lovingly, and with such breadth
of human sympathy, that his words must live until the end
of time.

A solitary monk within his cell,

Whose walls did make an island of his life,
Surrounded by the waves of war and strife,

His hours obedient to the convent bell

Until the grave had closed upon his corpse.
A life secluded from the haunts of men ;
A soul that found an utterance, by the pen,

For hope and sorrow, joy and sad remorse ;

A soul that longed for purity, that taught
Man's duty was to beat down pride and sin,
To conquer passion, keep all white within,

And shun a world with dark and evil fraught.
Ages have past, yet still, amid the strife,
Is heard the music of that far-off life.1

It will be convenient to discuss the arguments which go
to prove that Thomas a Kempis was the author of The
Imitation under the following heads : —

I. Contemporary witnesses.

II. External evidence as manifested by the manuscripts.
III. Internal evidence.

I. — Contemporary Witnesses

It is obvious that if one or more trustworthy witnesses
can be cited who knew Thomas a Kempis in his lifetime, and
state unequivocally that he was the author of The Imitation
of Christ, no reasonable person can resist such testimony.
Now, this is exactly what can be done. Two witnesses
who knew Thomas personally aver that he was the author,
and this long before the great controversy arose upon the
subject. Let us see who these contemporary witnesses
were.

JOHN BUSCH

The first is John Busch, the Chronicler of Windesheim.
It will be needful to say a few words here respecting this

1 ' Original Verse,' by W. E, A. Axon. The Academy (London, September 4,
1886).

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 227

remarkable and devoted man. Born in 1400, he entered the
monastery of Windesheim, and became a Canon Kegular of
St. Augustine in 1420, He died in 1479, eight years later
than Thomas a Kempis, having completed, in 1464 (that is
seven years before a Kempis' death) the Chronicle of
Windesheim, one of his most remarkable works, of which we
have seen something. That he was a man of rare ability
and integrity is proved by the fact that when the Papal
Legate, Cardinal de Cusa, undertook the reform of the
monasteries of Lower Germany, he selected Busch as his
companion and co-visitor. Leibnitz, and Trithemius, of
Spanheim, wrote of him in terms of the warmest praise.

Let us now see what this unimpeachable witness tells us
concerning Thomas a Kempis and The Imitation of Christ.
Turning to his Chronicle, where he speaks of the death of
Vos van Huesden, we read as follows. I translate the
passage : —

It happened a few days before his death that two well-known
brothers of our own Order from Mount St. Agnes, near Zwolle,
carne to Windesheim to consult with- our said Prior upon certain
affairs ; of . whom one, brother Thomas a Kempis, a man of
exemplary life, who composed many devout books — viz., He iclio
followeth Me, Of the Imitation of Christ, with others, had the
following night a dream foreshadowing future events.

Such evidence coming from such a source is conclusive ;
but we have much more to bring forward in corroboration.

HEEMANN EYD

The second contemporary witness who knew Thomas
a Kempis personally is Hermann Eyd. He, like Busch, was
a distinguished member of the congregation of Windesheim.
Born in 1408, he entered the monastery of Wittenberg in
1427, and was later sent to the Tyrol by Cardinal de Cusa
to assist in the work of monastic reformation there. In
1447 he was sent to the monastery of the ' New Work,' near
Halle, where he distinguished himself by his piety and
learning.

In his description of the Convent of the Canons Regular
of Windesheim, contained in a codex, dated 1493, in the

228 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

monastery of St. Nicolas, in Passau, he writes as follows. I
translate the passage : —

The Brother who compiled the book of The Imitation is called
or named Thomas, sub-Prior in the said monastery of Mount
St. Agnes, near Zwolle, in the diocese of Utrecht and province of
Cologne ; and this said monastery is distant a league from
Windesheim, which is the head monastery, in which the Canons
Eegular of the province of Cologne, Mayence, and Treves hold
yearly a General Chapter. The said compiler was still alive in
1454. And I, Brother Hermann, of the monastery of the ' New
Work,' near Halle, in the diocese of Magdeburg, being sent to
the said General Chapter, spoke with him.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would seem needless to
add to the testimony of Busch and Ryd, who knew Thomas
— were members of his own order — and pointedly declared
him to be the author of The Imitation ; but, in the present
case, it becomes prudent to corroborate their authority,
because such extraordinary and pertinacious ingenuity has
been expended in the endeavour to support phantom claims
by discrediting a Kempis. Therefore I shall quote a few
more witnesses, out of the many, who were either contem-
porary, or nearly so, and whose testimony is .ample to
establish the claims of the holy Canon of Agnetenberg, even
if we had not the foregoing irresistible evidence.

JOHN MAUBUEN

John Mauburn, a native of Brussels, entered the monas-
tery of Mount St. Agnes shortly after the death of Thomas a
Kempis.

In 1491 he published at Basle a book entitled Eosetum
SpiritualiumExercitiorum, in which he quotes The Imitation
as the work of a Kempis. Again, in his Scala Communioni^
he does the same. Finally, in his Venatorium, he adds the
words, ' Qui Frater Thomas a Kempis inter caetera opuscula
quae fecit, composuit libellum, Qui sequitur me, quern falso
Domino Gerson attribuunt.

THE ANONYMOUS CONTEMPOEAEY BIOGEAPHEE OF THOMAS

A KEMPIS

This author wrote his biography shortly after a Kempis'
death, and states that his informants were the brethren of

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 229

Mount St. Agnes, who had lived with Thomas a Kempis, and
had known him intimately. In the course of the life this
writer distinctly quotes The Imitation of Christ as the work
of a Kempis, and adds a catalogue of his various spiritual
treatises, including therein the four books of The Imitation.
Let us remember that the evidence of Maubern and the
Anonymous Biographer has the special value of coming
from Mount St. Agnes, the domicile and home of a Kempis.

ADEIAN DB BUT

. The evidence of this witness comes with singular force
in defence of the rights of Thomas a Kempis.

The Royal Commission of History of Belgium brought
out, in 1870, under the supervision of Baron Kervyn de
Lettenhove, the Chronicles of Adrian de But, a monk of
the famous Cistercian abbey of Dunes. These Chronicles
date from 1431, and are continued up to the death of
De But, in 1480. Late in the Chronicles, and referring to
the year 1459, the following note occurs : — 'Hoc anno Frater
Thomas de Kempis, de Monte ' Sanctae Agnetis professor
ordinis regularium Canonicorum multos scriptis suis divul-
gatis aedificat : Hie vitam sanctae Lidwigis descripsit et
quoddam volumen metrice super illud Qiti sequitur me.'

Here we find Adrian de But, the contemporary of
Thomas a Kempis, attributing to him The Imitation of
Christ, designating it, as usual, by its first sentence ' Qui
sequitur me,' and adding the word metrice. This latter term
might have remained an inexplicable puzzle were it not for
the discovery made about 1872 by Dr. Carl Hirsche, that The
Imitation of Christ, as well as most of the other writings of
Thomas a Kempis, is written and punctuated so as to be
rhythmical ! Herein, too, is found the explanation of the
fact that certain old manuscripts of the book bear the title
' Musica Ecclesiastical

A remarkable and important fact connected with the
evidence of de But is, that it was until recently supposed to
refer to a much later period than it really does. However,
a careful examination of the manuscript itself, which I
made at the Burgundian Library at Brussels, in 1887, with

230 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

MM. Buelens and Hosdey, has quite satisfied us that this
note refers to the year 1459, that is twelve years before the
death of a Kempis.

I have published a full account of this discovery, with
an illustrative photogravure, in the August number of the
Precis Historiques, Brussels, 1889.

WESSEL GANSFOED

According to Albert Hardenberg, the biographer of
Wessel, the latter acquired his first taste for true theology
by reading The Imitation of Christ, and actually went to
Mount St. Agnes specially to make the acquaintance of its
author, Thomas a Kempis.

GINTHEE ZAINEE

The earliest printed edition of The Imitation was brought
out by the above famous printer, at Augsburg, about the
years 1471 and 1472. The Editor, in the final note, dis-
tinctly attributes the work to Thomas a Kempis.

A beautiful photographic facsimile of this celebrated
edition was reproduced in 1894, by Elliot Stock, of London.

MATHIAS FAEINATOE

Mathias Farinator, a Carmelite monk of Augsburg, and
contemporary of Thomas a Kempis, transcribed The Imita-
tion between 1472 and 1475, and states that a Kempis was
its author.

PETEE SCHOTT

Peter Schott was a Canon of Strasburg, a noted divine,
poet, and literary critic. He wrote a laudatory preface *o
the works of Gerson, published in 1488, and distinctly
states that the book, On Contempt of this World, a well-
known synonym of The Imitation, was not the work of the
great Chancellor, but of a certain Thomas, a Canon Kegular.

JEHAN LAMBEET

Jehan Lambert translated The Imitation into French, in
1490, and asserts that it is the work neither of St. Bernard,
nor of John Gerson, but of Thomas a Kempis.

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST'' 231

PETEE DANHAUSSER

I have in my possession a copy of the works of Thomas
a Kempis edited by the above, and printed in Nuremberg by
Hochfeder, in 1494. At the head of the first chapter of The
Imitation we find a distinct declaration that its author was
Thomas a Kempis, and not the Chancellor Gerson. A
preface to this edition by the Carthusian, George Pirckarner,
adds the weight of his authority to the text.

MAETIN SIMUS

Martin Simus; of Strasburg, in his edition of the works
of Gerson (1494), again distinctly states that the book, On
the Contempt of the World, was not the work of that author,
but of a certain Thomas, Canon Regular.

TEITHEMIUS

Trithemius, better known as John Trittenheim, Bene-
dictine Abbot of Spanheim, was one of the most learned
ecclesiastical historians of his time. He wrote in 1494 and
1495, and attributes The Imitation of Christ to a Kempis,
the author of the Sermons to Novices. His evidence is most
important, as showing that in his time The Imitation was not
attributed to a Benedictine author, but to a member of the
Congregation of Windesheim.

JODOCUS BADIUS ASCENSIUS

Jodocus Badius Ascensius, a man of great learning,
edited and published the works of Thomas a Kempis in the
year 1521, including therein The Imitation of Christ ; adding
in his preface that he undertook the work at the request of
the Benedictines of St. Germain-des-Pres, the Carthusians
of Paris, and the Celestinians of Soissons. Evidently all
these held that Thomas was the author.

If space permitted I might go on adding witnesses,
but this seems utterly needless. Anyone who could resist
the evidence of those already quoted is not likely to be
influenced if they were multiplied by thousands. It seems
impossible that anyone can read the foregoing testimony —
coming from witnesses either contemporary or nearly so,

232 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

who, acting independently and above suspicion, unite in
attributing the authorship of The Imitation of Christ to
Thomas a Kempis — without arriving at the conclusion that
he, and he alone, must have been its author.

In my next communication I hope to show something of
the External Evidence which the various manuscripts of
The Imitation offer in favour of Thomas a Kempis as its
author, and also of the Internal Evidence which the book
itself contains, pointing in the same direction.

F. K. CRUISE, M.D.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DUTY

fTlHE idea of duty is not the growth of modern thought ;
J_ it does not even owe its origin to Christianity. Centuries
before the doctrine of the Messiah spread its light on the
earth, questions regarding man's duties were long and
ardently discussed. When the philosophy of Greece pierced
through the dark veil of intellectual confusion, and collected
together the faded remnants of truth, it mostly occupied
itself with the consideration of man. It inquired into his
origin, his destiny, and the means he should adopt to pro-
cure his personal well-being and ultimate end. Pythagoras
and Heraclitus began the investigation ; Democritus and
the Sophists went a step farther ; Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle advanced as far as reason could well have brought
them. The great question that came before them all was,
What is man's ultimate good, and how is he to regulate his
acts so as to obtain that good ? Their solution of the latter
part of the question varied according to their different views
of what is the ultimate good. Socrates was the first among
the Greeks who taught that man's well-being consists in the
knowledge of the good, but he did not assign what he con-
ceived that good to be ; Plato followed in his footsteps, and
declared that good to be the ideal harmony of the universe,

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DUTY 233

and that each one's good consists in ordering his acts to this
universal good. Aristotle, more deductive and analytic than
his master, descended to the particular act. He sought a
standard according to which that act was either good or
bad. This standard, he says, consists in moral excellence.
Man's acts are good or bad, according to their conformity or
non-conformity with moral excellence. ' But Aristotle does
not give a satisfactory account of what this moral excellence
is. It depends, he says, on the moral consciousness of the
age, and he then points out particular acts where there is
conformity with this moral excellence. In his book on
Ethics he dwells at length on this moral excellence of man,
and he shows how man is to act so as to attain his ultimate
good ; how the non-rational and semi-rational elements of
the soul are to be regulated by reason ; but there are many
questions there touched on to which the Stagyrite does not
offer a solution. It is a matter of regret to philosophers
that this excellent work of Aristotle, which is so full of
close reasoning and precision of thought, remained imperfect
and incomplete.

What is wanting in Aristotle the Stoics endeavoured to
supply. They formulated a system of human conduct that
became the standard of well-being to each individual. With
Socrates and his successors they placed knowledge as the
first essential for all well-doing. Ignorance, they said, is
the cause of all evil-doing. One cannot seek evil except he
is ignorant of the good.' To this knowledge of the good
they added an absolute indifference to all things that can
affect man. Man's duty, they taught, is to know the good,
and to hold himself passively indifferent to all things that
can bring him grief or sorrow, joy or pain. This good of the
Stoics, in the knowledge of which wisdom consists, is the
order of the world fitted and governed by divine thought.
Man's perfection consists in the knowledge of this order,
and in the right relation of his actions to it. This system
of the Stoics was afterwards adopted and modified by the
Neo-Platonists. By them it was introduced and taught in
Eome, and on its principles is based the admirable little
work of Cicero, De Officiis.

234

After centuries of thought the question of man's duties
was still unanswered. Reason had gone far on the right
road to find out what they are, but being unaided by any
superior help it soon proved an unsafe guide, and led the
searchers after truth into the pitfalls of error. It was
reserved for the teachers of Christianity, whose minds were
enlightened and perfected by the divine gift of faith, to
define and point out the duties incumbent on man.

It is the object of the following paper to show what
these duties are, to assign the foundations on which they are
based, and to point out the different ways in which they
affect man.

What gives man the eminent position he holds among
created beings is the spiritual soul that animates his body.
Whether we admit that man's appearance on earth was the
outcome of the latent powers of nature that gradually
developed during long periods of time, till at a certain epoch
a determined portion of matter was sufficiently disposed to
become a fit abode of the human soul, or whether we
attribute it to an individual and specific act of creation, we
must all grant that the human soul was directly and imme-
diately created by God. Man's soul could not be the product
of matter. It was above matter, it had properties foreign to
matter, it could and did act independently of matter. Yet in
the all-wise designs of Providence it was confined in, and
limited to, a determined quantity of matter. But though
thus limited to the material body of which it was the form,
and on which it depended for many of its operations, it still
could perform some actions that were beyond the sphere of
matter. Will and understanding are psychical faculties, and
their exercise does not entirely depend on material organs.
The soul however, often required the aid of material organs,
even for its immaterial operations, though in the state of
original justice in which it was first constituted it was much
less dependent on them than it now is. In that perfect state
the soul, could not err in the acquisition of truth, neither was
it as dependent as it is now on the phantasmata of the
imagination. It could then guide and direct the imagination,
now it can but often blindly follow.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DUTY 235

In addition to these immaterial operations of man, his
spiritual soul constituted him an independent individual
being, specifically distinct from all others. It assigned to
him a special place in creation ; it made known to him the
end of his existence, and the means proportionate to its
attainment ; it made him master of his own actions. Man
need not have gone beyond himself to learn what his ultimate
end was; his inner consciousness proclaimed to him the
special end for which he existed. In the ideal atmosphere
that penetrated his soul he felt that he was created not for
things of earth, but that beyond its perishable goods there
was a higher, a nobler, and a more excellent end to which
the trend of his actions should incline, and which he should
in all things seek to attain. This knowledge of his final
destiny showed him his relations to all things else. He saw
that he was not like an individual atom, drifting broadcast
in space, with no definite way to direct his course ; but that
he was a being destined to a fixed end, and therefore having
a relation, primarily, to that end, and secondly, to whatever
else formed an intermediary end of his actions.

By these relations his manifold line of action was mapped
out to him, and to each line of action was attached a cor-
responding obligation to pursue the direct course. The
relations thus manifested were threefold : to God, to himself,
and to his fellow-man. Man felt that he had a relation
to God, who, as He was the cause and beginning of his
existence, was to be also the end, the end to which man
felt himself bound to direct his actions ; secondly, man
himself was the end for which God created all things on
on earth, and therefore was he to look on himself as possess-
ing a certain dignity and excellence granted him by God,
and his reason dictated to him that on that account he
was to honour and respect his own person ; thirdly,
man saw that same specific dignity in all other men,
and hence arose a new relation which manifested to him
certain obligations to others. This threefold relation of
man to God, to himself, and to his neighbour was based
on the order instituted by the Divine Intelligence, and
impressed indelibly on the mind of man.

230 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

This order was likewise threefold. The Divine intelli-
gence, according to which were made all things that are
made, fixed certain laws or modes of action by which all
things were to be guided. When God created the universe
He did not act blindly. He foresaw the end for which He
acted, and He everywhere proportioned the means to the end
He had in view. Everything that came from His hands had
its own place in creation, its own work to do, and its own
end to attain. God created all things ' in measure, and
number, and weight.' The Divine mind is both the
exemplar arid guide according to which all things are, and
act, and the perfection of each consists in its conformity
with that exemplar and guide. Each created being seeks
the end assigned to it by its Creator, and when it possesses
that end it is perfect ; it has all that is due to it, and in that
possession its perfection consists.

Some beings seek their end without knowing that they
do so ; they move on instinctively, each fulfilling its own
mission, but as far as we can judge, unconscious that the
order they follow is in harmony with the mind of their guide.
Man has this special perfection, that he knows the order
assigned to him by God. He knows that he is a being
dependent on his Creator, and that the Creator has rights
over him which he feels he is obliged to fulfil. One of these
rights that God has over man is to demand that man should
act according to the order established by the Divine Law.
Man is conscious of the justice of God's right over him ; he
has written on his soul the knowledge of the demand that
God makes from him ; and go where he will, he feels that
he is under an obligation to obey it. He is free to do so,
but when he fails to act in accordance with God's demand,
he subverts the order God has assigned to him to follow,
and he sins against his Creator. This obligation that
man feels urging him on to conform his actions to a definite
order is called duty. Considered in the concrete, duty is
the doing or omission of some act that a law demands us to
do or to avoid.

At the present day there are many who deny this
demand of the Creator on the creature. Fixing their

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DUTY 237

ultimate standard of action in reason alone, they ignore the
existence of any superior law. They bow down and adore
reason, and reject any higher guide of their actions.
Agnosticism may ascend higher, or more truly, descend
lower, and do homage to its intellectual chimera the
Unknown, or Positivism may dress up its idol Humanity,
and induce others to bow down before 'it as the ultimate
criterion of the goodness of our actions ; but in each case,
whether as Rationalist, Agnostic, or Positivist, there is the
same attempt to turn man away from the order assigned
him by his Creator, and to extinguish in him the glowing
spark that illumines his way, and gently, but surely, guides
him on to the true end of his destiny. Reason will not do
more for modern philosophers than it did for the philo-
sophers of old. Reason without God is like a body without
its head, like an army without its general, like a ship
without its captain. It has no standard, no guide, no fixed
points, no immovable landmarks according to which it is to
proceed : it is blind, helpless, and incapable of advancing on
the right road. It cannot even ' continue to exist. Take
away the absolute and the real and the contingent cannot
continue to be. But with God as its author, and the
light of the Divine Intelligence as its guide, it can proceed
safely on the true path, and lead man on to the attainment
of that end, in the possession of which consists his true
happiness.

Granting, then, the existence of the Divine Law as
the ultimate standard and guide of men's actions, what,
we may ask, are man's duties to God ? It may be
well, before answering the question, to remark that
God in Himself has no obligations towards any of us.
He has rights over us. He can make laws for us, and
demand their observance ; but He has no duties towards
us. He is Himself His own law, ever acting in conformity
with His infinite wisdom. We are His creatures, depend-
ing on Him for our existence, and receiving from Him
every good thing we possess. If in His goodness He has
thought well to reward us for our good actions, it is because
He has bounteously willed it, and not because we can do

238 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

anything that imposes on Him a duty to do so. God has
rights with regard to us, but He has no duties. We have no
rights with regard to God, but we have many duties towards
Him. The following are some of these duties.

As rational beings, we are obliged to know God ; and
this includes our duty of acknowledging Him as the Creator
of all things, their first beginning, as well as their final
end ; of adoring Him by acknowledging our dependence on
Him, and His supreme dominion over us ; of submitting
our reason to His word, and believing Him with the firmest
faith when He deigns to speak to us ; and, finally, it includes
the duty of seeking the true means whereby we can come
to a knowledge of Him. It is our duty to love Him, to
esteem Him as the highest good, both in regard to Himself
and relative to us ; to centre our affections on Him as such, to
seek or desire nothing but what is pleasing to Him, to always
maintain His honour and extend His glory. We are obliged
to serve Him, as His Law demands, both by internal acts of
the soul and external acts of the body. Body and soul alike
belong to Him, and are, therefore, to be used in serving
Him. We are obliged to do nothing but what is in confor-
mity with His holy will, and to avoid whatever is discordant
to His desires ; in short, there is a duty on each one of
us to use everything here on earth as a means of bringing
us nearer to Him. These duties of man towards His Creator
arise out of the right that God has over him, and are
consequent on the order that He has established for man to
observe. They are known to every human being who has
come to the use of reason, and are binding on every human
soul.

But these are not the only duties incumbent on man.
He has other duties, both towards himself and his neigh-
bour. God, as I have said, has assigned to man an eminent
position among created beings. He has made him not a
means to be utilized by something else, but He has consti-
tuted him an end, inasmuch as all things on earth are
ordained by God for man's service. Man is the end for
which God created all the things of this world, not the
ultimate end, for such is God Himself, but the proximate or

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DUTY 239

immediate end, since all things on earth are for the service
of man. Man is superior to them, and they are subject to
him. It is his spiritual soul that gives him this superiority,
that raises him high above the level of the brute creation,
and impresses on him the image of his invisible Creator.
Eeason, which is one of the intellectual faculties, manifests
to him this superiority, and the relations corresponding to
it. He knows he has a body to preserve, and not injure or
destroy at will ; that he has a soul to perfect and lead
to God. Both are from God, and their continued union is a
necessary condition for his existence. He cannot destroy
that existence, but must preserve it as a gift from God.
Hence it arises that he has obligations to himself — obliga-
tions dictated to him by natural instinct, sanctioned by right
reason, and conformable to the natural law that God has
written on his soul. He has a duty to preserve his life,
and, consequently, to never take direct steps to destroy it.
God alone is master of man's life, and He alone has the
personal right to bring it to an end, when and how He
chooses. There are cases where man may endanger his
life for his own personal good, or the good of another; but
then the loss or the danger of losing life is not the object
sought. It can at most be but consequent on the good
intended, and frequently it is lawful to permit a less evil,
that a greater good may follow. The State too can by its
judicial authority declare that a man is unworthy of being
allowed to remain among the living ; that he is an evil to
society ; and acting with that authority it has from God to
preserve the welfare of society, it can deprive that man of
life.

Man has also other personal duties. Eight reason dictates
to him that he is to use his body for the benefit of his soul,
that he is to preserve it, to restrain its inordinate appetites,
and as far as possible restore it to that submission to reason
which was its happy lot in the state of original justice.
But it is especially to his soul that man has many duties.
He has to order its intellectual faculties to their true end —
God, to submit them to His word when He speaks, to use
them unbiassed in the investigation of truth, especially

240 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

those truths that are necessary for the attainment of his
ultimate end. Then, when the truth is known, when the
right way is clear, he has to direct his will to the acquiring
of the necessary good, to turn it away from the perishable
and corruptible, and centre its inclinations on the incorrup-
tible and eternal. Nor is this all ; he has to strengthen and
perfect the faculties of his soul by the intellectual and moral
virtues. He has within him the power to know what is
true, and to do what is right, but it is a power that is almost
inert, it requires to be stirred up and made active, to be
accidentally perfected by the virtues, by prudence in the
intellect, justice in the will, and by temperance and fortitude
in the powers that carry out the injunction of intellect and
will. And all this in the natural order, and for every human
being that comes to the use of reason. It is true, man is
raised by God to a supernatural order, and destined by Him
to a supernatural end, to an end that man cannot conceive,
that ' eye hath not seen, nor ear heard.' He gets from God
the proportionate means to attain that end; ^and, here again,
he is under a new duty to utilize these means. He cannot
with impunity forfeit the spiritual inheritance gained him
by his Redeemer. He has his own part to play, his own
duty to fulfil in bringing his immortal soul to the true port.
He can fall short of that work ; he can fail in accomplishing
that duty ; but when he does, the loss is his own, and must
be imputed to him.

There is yet another duty, which is, man's duty to his
neighbour. Man, according to the dictum of Aristotle, is a
political animal. He is not a solitary being cut away from
the society of others. Though not necessarily his ' brother's
keeper,' he is his brother's companion and helper. His
reason, his position, his surroundings in life show him that
he has many duties to his neighbour. He recognises an
equal, specific dignity and excellence in all other human
beings as he himself possesses, and as each one has a right
to preserve that dignity, man has a duty to his fellow-man
not to interfere with that right. If each one has a right,
all have a duty not to counteract that right. Nor is this
a mere negative duty ; it is more ; it is a positive and definite

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DUTY 241

duty to assist and help others where they have a right
to claim help and assistance. Yet, though positive, it is
not the brotherly-love, nor the mental or material improve-
ment or self-sacrifice for the common good that the Positivists
preach to us as the ultimate end of our lives. It is a duty
based on reason which tells us that each 'man is an image
and likeness of his Creator, that he has within him an
immortal soul destined to enjoy felicity with us in the abode
of the blessed, and purchased at a dear cost by the Precious
Blood of its Eedeemer. It is this view of humanity, and
not the dry barren view of the Positivist, that spontaneously
warns us of our duty to our neighbour, that manifests to us
our neighbour's rights, and consequently our corresponding
duties. In the natural, as in the supernatural order, these
duties teach us that we are never to injure our neighbour
either in word or deed, that we are not to interfere with his
rights, and that we are to help him when in need. Right
reason tells us we should do so ; the law of God requires
us to do so ; personal rights of each individual demand we
should do so.

So far, we have endeavoured to show the fitness of the
threefold duty incumbent on man ; namely, his duty towards
God, towards himself, and towards his neighbour. We havj
shown also how these duties are based on the threefold order
of things, and on the consequent relations of these orders ;
first, the order of the Divine Intellect by which man ha4
fixed and definite relations to God ; secondly, the order of
right reason by which man has relations to himself; and
thirdly, the order that regulates one man to another. The
duties corresponding to these orders are incumbent on all
men, and may be called primary or absolute duties. There
are other duties arising out of the personal and individual
relations of one man to another in the different phases of
life ; for instance, the duties of the servant towards his master,
of the citizen towards the state, and of the nation towards its
ruler. These are called secondary or relative duties. Not
that every duty is not relative ; it is. For where there is
duty there is a corresponding relation, and a corresponding
right ; and wherever there is right there is a corresponding

VOL. I. Q

242 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

duty, at least, in others. We say, in others, because God
has many rights, but He has no duties.

Eecently much has been said and written about the
question whether man has any duties to animals. The
Anti-Vivisectionist Society claims that animals have certain
rights to which man is bound to submit, and that therefore
man has duties to animals. In their estimation it is wrong
for the sportsman to shoot down the hare or partridge, or
for the scientist to inoculate or make experiments on the
guinea-pig. But we fail to see the cogency of the arguments
they adduce for their assumed position. Man, we think,
has no duties to the brute creation, to animals as such. He
is bound, we admit, not to ill-use them or treat them harshly,
but this arises not from any rights that they have on him,
but from the duty he owes to himself, to always act with
moderation, to regulate his actions according to right reason.
Brutes are created by God for the use of man, and in
harmony with this design of the Almighty, man has the
right to use and employ them as befits his wants. He has
the right to inflict pain on them, not, be it well understood,
in a savage and inhuman manner, he has the right to work
them or kill them, as the case may require. What internal
perception or sense of pain they may have beyond what is
visible to us, we do not know ; and till the Anti-Vivisectionist
Society can prove for us that brutes have a different position
in the world, and other relations to man besides those now
known to us, we feel justified in claiming for man the right
to use the brute creation for that end assigned to them by
the Lord of all.

When we assign to man duties towards God, himself,
and his neighbour, we do so because God has a supreme
right and dominion over us, and because man is an image
and likeness of God, with the light of the Divine mind
reflected on his soul, guiding him in his actions, and
demanding allegiance from all his inferior members ; and,
finally, because he sees in his fellow-man that same
image of God, an alter ego, another self, participating
in the same light, and tending to the same end. Hence
arise the foundations of the threefold duty we have assigned

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 243

to man. The Grecian philosophers failed to see any such
foundations of human duty, and they were therefore unable
to clearly point out what man's duties were. Modern
philosophers refuse to accept these foundations of duty, and
the result is the want of any fixed rule of conduct that can
make man what he ought to be — a true servant of God.

P. T. BURKE, o.D.c.

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION

SIE EOBEET S. BALL, formerly Astronomer Koyal
for Ireland, and now Professor of Mathematics and
Astronomy at Cambridge University, is deservedly famous
as a writer and lecturer on astronomical subjects. It is not,
we think, very generally known that in Longman's Magazine
for November, 1883, he came out in a new and somewhat
unexpected character — that of 'a Darwinian evolutionist.
His article was headed ' Darwinism in its relation with other
branches of Science.' It did not attract much attention at
the time ; and had it been left at rest in the pages of Long-
man's it might have been spared adverse criticism. However,
in 1892 it was brought forth from its comparative obscurity,
and given anew to the public as the closing chapter of a book
called In Starry Realms. Probably our first thought on
meeting with it in such a place is — what brings it there ?
Darwinism is ' of the earth earthly ' — very much so ! — and
the last place we should look for it would certainly be in an
astronomical work. However, there it is, like the fly in the
amber, and now there is no escaping it, for we all know the
popularity enjoyed by Sir E. Ball's books. As a writer of
science for the million, he has few rivals ; and it may be
safely said that he has taught the general public more
astronomy than any other man who has written on the
subject. His Darwinism will now profit by the popularity of
his astronomy, and get a publicity it never had a chance 01
before. For one that read the article on its first appearance

244 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

a hundred will read it now. Moreover, the fame of the
author has continued to grow in the interval, and any
opinion from so renowned and accomplished a teacher must
necessarily make a deep impression on the public mind. As
the article referred to is a thick-and-thin endorsement of
Darwinism, it becomes a matter of necessity to examine it
in some detail, and to show that, however eminent as an
astronomer, as a biologist Sir R. Ball is, we are sorry to
have to say, absolutely unreliable.

The article opens with an enthusiastic appreciation of
Darwin. The voyage of the Beagle is likened to ' the
immortal voyage of Columbus. In each case a new world
was discovered.' Sir E. Ball describes the effect which the
reading of the Origin of Species had upon him. ' I can recall
at this day the intense delight with which I read it. I was
an instantaneous convert to the new doctrines, and I have
felt their influence during all my subsequent life.' This
enthusiastic tone is kept up throughout the article:—

That the great doctrine would some day be accepted, was a
necessary truth. . . . Darwin has worked out one of the most
splendid details in the history of the universe. . . . The
lifeless earth is the canvas on which has been drawn the noblest
picture that modern science has produced. It is Darwin who
has drawn this picture. He has shown that the evolution of the
lifeless earth from the nebula is but the prelude to an organic
evolution of still greater interest and complexity.

Finally, in the concluding sentence, Darwin is styled
' the Newton of natural history,' whose ' immortal work has
revolutionized knowledge.'

To account for his present incursion into the domain
of biology, Sir K. Ball claims ' that the great doctrine of
Evolution is of the very loftiest significance, and soars far
above the distinction between one science and another to
which we are accustomed.'

He briefly describes the vicissitudes through which the
Darwinian theory passed, and brings it out eventually
triumphant. ' The truth inherent in the principles of Darwin
has quietly brushed aside opposition, and now we hear but
little of it.' This sentence is a fair specimen of what we must

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 245

regard as a characteristic feature of this article, viz., unquali-
fied assertion of things as facts, which are, to say the least,
unproven, and not seldom contrary to the weight of existing
evidence and authority. Here we have it roundly stated that
the inherent truth of Darwinism has placed it beyond dispute.
This from so eminent a man practically leaves the ordinary
reader no choice. He can only conclude that Darwinism is
now the creed of all educated humanity. He is not in a
position to know that while some more or less modified form
of evolution has met with fairly wide acceptance, the
evolution of Darwin has at the present time hardly a leg to
stand on. And the remarkable thing is that this has not been
the work solely of foes without ; the children of the house-
hold of evolution have risen up and rent the parent. Lord
Kelvin long ago docked off those 'incomprehensibly vast
periods ' of time which Darwin declared to be necessary for
the working of his system ; Huxley demolished the geological
evidence, showing that whatever there is of it 'is quite
incompatible with the theory ; ' Weismann has laid the
ghost of natural selection, by upsetting Darwin's theory of
inheritance of acquired qualities ; and so on, until almost
the only thing left of Darwin's famous book is the natural
history. But the ordinary reader does not know all this, and
stands dumbfoundered before Sir E. Ball's blunt statement-

Darwin's interment in Westminster Abbey is hauled in as a
national endorsement of his theory. As if the nation as a
whole knew anything whatever about his theory ; or, as if
all those who voted him a national funeral did so because of
their acceptance of his theory, and not because he was a
great naturalist, whose works reflected credit on his country
by giving to the study of natural history such an incentive
as it had never before received.

After this we get a bit of astronomical speculation in
Sir E. Ball's best popular vein. It would be difficult to find
a better specimen of popular scientific exposition than the
sketch of the nebular hypothesis of our planetary system,
which he gives within the limits of four ordinary book pages.
He tries very hard to connect it with Darwinism by pointing
to the fact that it too is a theory of evolution ; but let that

246 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

pass. Here you see the master at his own trade, and
cannot help noticing the difference in the workmanship.
He concludes this scientific portion with these words : —
' At this point the functions of the astronomer are at an
end. . . . His work being done, he now hands over the
continuance of the history to the biologist.' Pity he did
not really do so, and draw his pen through all that follows !
From this on we have the painful, if instructive, spectacle of
a great man labouring at a work for which he is in no way
equipped, and which, notwithstanding his ability and enthu-
siasm, turns out a miserable failure. This it is now our
disagreeable duty to show.

The Darwinian portion of the article begins with a state-
ment which is not only not true, but is so entirely opposed
to notorious facts, that we find it hard to believe it merely
a mistake. Anyone who knows anything about Darwin
knows that he made no attempt to account for the origin of
life. Therefore when Sir R. Ball tells us that ' Darwin has
taken up the history of the earth at the point where the
astronomer left it,' he simply states what is not true.
Darwin does not begin at the point where the astronomer
left off, but at a point whose remoteness therefrom cannot
be expressed in terms of quantity. For the two points are
separated by nothing less than a new creation. Life makes
its appearance on the earth. Surely such an event was
deserving of mention by Sir R. Ball. But even this does
not represent all the difference. Darwin is not content to
begin with a single living organism. He requires as an
adequate foundation for his theory ' four or five progenitors '
for animals, and ' an equal or lesser number ' for plants. *
In short, Darwin not only assumes organic life to begin
with, but several distinct species of animals and plants — a
very notable addition to the ' lifeless earth ' handed over to
him by the astronomer.

And here the question naturally arises— Can we suppose
Sir R. Ball to have been ignorant, even so late as 1892, of
these fundamental assumptions of Darwinism ? — he who

1 Origin of Species (1892), p. 399.

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 247

read the Origin of Species with such 'intense delight.' In
that work Darwin more than once plainly states the limits of
his theory of derivation. We have just now referred to one
of these plain statements, in which he tells us the number
of progenitors he requires for animals and plants respectively.
Even more remarkable is his restatement of this in the con-
cluding sentence of the work — ' There is a grandeur in this
view of life, with its several powers, having been originally
breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one.' Can
we conceive it possible that Sir K. Ball could have over-
looked such a sentence in such a place? And if not, what
are we to think of his telling the public that Darwin began
with the ' lifeless earth ' ? This sort of suppressio veri
shows us Sir R. Ball in a light in which we had rather not
have to view him.

In starting as he did, and not with the 'lifeless earth,'
Darwin knew very well the terrible pitfall he was escaping.
Sir R. Ball, less wise, falls headlong into it. He proceeds
to tackle the ' very celebrated difficulty ' of the origin of
life, and his solution of it reminds us of nothing so much as
of those ' roads to nowhere,' on which our starving people
were employed in the famine years.

' It has been contended that life can never be produced
except from life ; but just as stoutly has the opposite view
been maintained.' Here we have another example of un-
qualified assertion of the non-fact. 'The opposite view' has
not been 'just as stoutly maintained.' ' The opposite view'
is that life can come spontaneously from dead matter. How
far this is from being ' stoutly maintained ' is evident from
the many conflicting theories as to the origin of life, and
still more from the prevailing tendency amongst the most
thoroughgoing evolutionists to give it up. When Hackel
tries to get round the difficulty by asserting that there is no
such thing as lifeless matter, but that all matter is 'equally
alive ' — (and therefore must necessarily have been alive in
the incandescent gaseous and molten states ; otherwise the
difficulty would remain!) —when Fiske and Tyndall approve
of this wild hypothesis ; when Tyndall nevertheless admits
that there is not * the least e vide ace that life can be

248 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

developed out of matter without demonstrable antecedent
life;' when Darwin confesses that 'our ignorance is as
profound on the origin of life as on the origin of force or
matter ; ' when Huxley says 'we know absolutely nothing of
the origination of living matter ; ' when Virchow echoes this
admission of absolute ignorance ; when Weismann's only
argument for the development of life from dead matter is the
truly wonderful one that it is for him ' a logical necessity ; '
when Huxley, having already confessed absolute ignorance,
refers his readers to the other side of 'the abyss of geological
time ' for a solution — (which looks like referring them to
Jericho !) ; when Tyndall again, not content with the two
contradictory views already stated, besides his pet crystalline
theory, calls in the aid of nothing less than ' a cooling planet '
to solve the puzzle — (By the way, Sir E. Ball, awkwardly
enough, does not hand over this planet for occupation until
it is already cooled /) — when this is the chaotic state of
opinion amongst the leading materialists, it surely cannot
be said that 'the opposite view,' or in fact any view, ' has
been just as stoutly maintained.'

' Can a particle of matter which consists only of a
definite number of atoms of definite chemical composition
manifest any of those characters which characterize life?
Take as an extreme instance the brain of an ant, which is
not larger than a good-sized pin's head.' "We hardly know
what to think of these two sentences. They afford ' an
extreme instance ' either of grave dishonesty, or else of gross
blundering on the part of Sir E. Ball. The first sentence
asks an abstract question ; the second is supposed to supply
a concrete example. But see how the example fits the
question. We have first to disentangle that question from
the confusing language in which Sir E. Ball has thought
well to wrap it up. The subject of inquiry is ' a particle of
matter which consists only of a definite number of atoms.'
If the said particle consists only of its material atoms, it does
not contain anything but these atoms with their inherent
qualities. Hence the particle does not contain what we call
life — whatever it be — for life is certainly not an inherent
quality of ordinary inorganic matter, Therefore the subject

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 249

of inquiry is simply a particle of dead matter, and the
question resolves itself into this — Can a piece of dead matter
manifest of itself the characteristics of living matter? In
short, can dead matter grow alive ?

Now consider the ' particle ' which is selected to illustrate
this capacity in dead matter — the brain of an ant ! What
can Sir B. Ball mean ? Does he ask us to regard the brain
of an ant as a particle of dead matter ' consisting only of a
definite number of atoms ' and nothing more ? And is the
life which it manifests to be regarded as an illustration of
the power of a particle of dead matter to manifest life ? If
not, what does the illustration mean ? Apparently Sir
B. Ball would even have us believe that he is putting his
case at its worst by taking such an ' extreme instance ' — a
particle no bigger than a pin's head. As if material bulk
made any difference in a question regarding life ! Is a
microbe less alive than an elephant ? Afflicted humanity in
our day is sadly convinced of the contrary ! The brain of
an ant is alive; and because it is alive, it is as great a puzzle
to our materialist philosophers as the body of an elephant.
Sir B. Ball might just as well have taken the whole ant, or
for that matter the whole family of ants. One would be
just as good — or as bad — an instance as the other of the
capacity of dead matter to manifest life.

But what are we to say of the honesty of such reasoning —
if we must call it so ? Or can we charitably suppose that in
the effort to throw some dust in the public eye, a little of it
got into the astronomer's own optic ? We very much fear
that when Sir B. Ball came down for once from his familiar
; high heavens,' he fell among thieves, and contracted their
evil ways.

Here follows a couple of pages of glorification of the
brain of an ant, apparently leading to no more apropos con-
clusion than that ' by merely studying the behaviour of an
infusion of hay or a tincture of turnips in a test tube, we do
not rise to the full magnificence of the problem as to
whether life can have originated on the globe from the
particles of inorganic matter.' What in the world this can
have to do with the solution of the said problem passes

250 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

ordinary comprehension. In the reference to the ' infusion
of hay ' and ' tincture of turnips in a test tube ' there is
probably a covert sneer at the famous experiments of
Pasteur, which gave spontaneous generation its quietus.
But sneers are of little avail against the terribly conclusive
work of the great French scientist. Though he necessarily
had to study such contemptible things as tinctures of hay
or turnips, and had to work with test tubes rather than
telescopes, yet he certainly ' rose to the full magnificence of
the problem ' he set himself, for he solved it ; and but for his
tinctures and test tubes Sir E. Ball would not now be in
such a tight place.

But now let us behold Sir E. Ball 'rise to the full
magnificence ' of his present problem — the origin of life.
Here is his solution of it : —

Unusual indeed must be the circumstances which will have
brought about such a combination of atoms as to form the first
organic being. But great events are always unusual. Because
we cannot repeatedly make an organized being from inert matter
in our test tubes, are we to say that such an event can never once
bave occurred with all the infinite opportunities of nature ? We
have in nature the most varied conditions of temperature, of
pressure, and of chemical composition. Every corner of the
earth and of the ocean has been the laboratory in which these
experiments have been carried on. It is not necessary to suppose
that such an event as the formation of an organized being shall
have occurred often. If in the whole course of millions of
3rears past it has once happened, either on the land or in the
depths of the ocean, that a group of atoms, few or many, have
been so segregated as to have the power of assimilating outside
material, and the power of producing other groups more or less
similar to themselves, then we have little more to demand from
the theory of spontaneous generation.

Truly a fearful and wonderful piece of reasoning, and, to
use a classic phrase, ' one of the most extraordinary, if not
the most extraordinary ' of the many extraordinary solutions
of the great problem ! When Pasteur had done with his
tinctures, and emptied out his test tubes, the whole scien-
tific world accepted as final his solution of the problem of
spontaneous generation. We fear Sir E. Ball's solution of
the problem of life will not be regarded as equally conclu-

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 251

sive ! But let us examine this wonderful mosaic of uncandid
wriggling and absurdity.

Sir E. Ball has proposed to himself a question of the
very first importance — ' whether life can have originated on
the globe from the particles of inorganic matter.' He knows
that this is perhaps the greatest difficulty of the evolution
theory. He knows that so far as human knowledge goes
there is only one honest answer to it — a flat negative. He
knows that other scientific evolutionists as eminent as him-
self have admitted this, or given the matter up as hopeless.
Instead of showing equal straightforwardness Sir E. Ball
tries to mystify his readers by a tangle of words which
prove nothing but his own want of candour. For we cannot
believe that he is himself convinced. The caution with
which he approaches the difficulty leaves no doubt as to his
knowledge that he is walking on very thin ice. The forma-
tion of the first organic being from inorganic matter was
' unusual indeed ' ! Why not say straight out that it was
so ' unusual ' that it was never known to have happened,
nor anything like it, nor anything remotely suggesting the
possibility of it ? Is it honest to say of a thing that was
never known to have happened, that it is merely ' unusual ' ?
Yet he goes on to drive home this false idea. ' Great events
are always unusual' he tells us, as if still further to assure
us that this 'great event ' is merely ' unusual/ not that it is
unheard of.

' Because we cannot repeatedly make an organized being
from inert matter in our test tubes, are we to say that such
an event can never once have occurred, with all the infinite
opportunities of nature ? ' Is this a fair statement of the
other side of the case ? Who ever asked to have it repeatedly
done ? Would it not be fairer to say : ' Because nothing
approaching to it has ever once, to our knowledge, occurred
either in or outside our test tubes, either in chemistry or
nature ' ? Even then we might not be entitled to deny
absolutely the possibility in question, but that possibility
would be placed in a fairer light. Then what are those
* infinite opportunities of nature ' ? Were they different in the
past from what they are now ? If so, when, and why, and

252 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

how ? As to temperature and pressure, we can apply these
up to and beyond the powers of endurance of any known
form of life, and therefore as far as would be useful for the
formation of a living being. Moreover, we can combine and
balance them with a delicacy probably never equalled in the
rough and tumble of nature's gigantic operations. As to
chemical resources, we can do all, and more than all
nature's inorganic chemistry, which was the only kind of
chemistry she had to rely on for the first production of life.
If it cannot be shown that the ' infinite opportunities ' of
inorganic nature were specifically different in the past from
what they are now, their mere multiplication will avail
nothing. A thousand factories will be as powerless to pro-
duce puppy dogs as one. Neither is it of any use to tell us
of the wonders of nature's laboratory unless we are also
shown that the production of living beings is part of the
work done there. Howrever wonderful a chemical labora-
tory may be, it has its limitations ; and we are not prepared
to believe without very decided evidence that it turns out,
say, tall hats.

' It is not necessary to suppose that such an event as the
formation of an organic being shall have occurred often.'
Here again we have the suggestio falsi noticed above, viz.,
that the opponents of materialistic evolution unreasonably
demand the frequent production of livings beings from
inert matter. Sir R. Ball knows perfectly well that if he
can produce one instance, his case will be regarded as proved.
But he also knows equally well that he cannot produce that
one instance, and so he keeps on throwing more dust.

And now after all this preparatory mystification we
come at last to the kernel, the very marrow, of Sir E. Ball's
solution of the problem : —

If in the whole course of millions of years past it has once
happened, either on land or in the depths of the ocean, that a
group of atoms, few or many, have been so segregated as to have
the power of assimilating outside material, and the power of
producing other groups more or less similar to themselves, then
we have little more to demand from the theory of spontaneous
generation,

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 253

Bead that 'If in italics, and then at once you perceive
the full value of this extraordinary solution of the problem
proposed. Clear the sentence of circumlocution, and what do
we get ? ' If it it has ever once happened anywhere that a
group of atoms assumed the characteristics of a living being,
then we have done with spontaneous generation.' In short, 'if
it ever happened, it did — Q.E.D. ! ' Comment would spoil
such a gem of demonstration. The last few words of the
sentence reveal where the Pasteur shoe pinched the astro-
nomer, and why he was so hard on tinctures and test tubes.
The theory of ' spontaneous generation ' died and was
finally buried in those test tubes. And now, when Sir R.
Ball comes asking us to suppose that it may have happened
just ' once in the whole course of millions of years,' we can
only answer regretfully : ' Too late ! '

The next paragraph affords an example of the method
of misapplying scientific facts to build up fallacious argu-
ments : —

The more we study the actual nature of matter, the less
improbable will it seem that organic beings should have so
originated. One of the most obvious contrasts between organic
and inorganic bodies seems to be the power of motion, often
inherent in the organized body, which is not possessed by the
inorganic body ; but this is really a superficial view of the
question. ... In ultimate analysis we see that the atoms of
inorganic matter seem to have that mobility, which is frequently
noticed as a characteristic of vital action. A mere arrangement
of the movements of the atoms of a grain of sand could confer
on the little object some of the attributes of an organized body.

Here is a deliberate misuse of a generally admitted
scientific principle, viz., the vibratory motion of atoms.
To say that there is the smallest analogy between that
assumed vibratory motion and the ' mobility which is fre-
quently noticed as a characteristic of vital action ' is simply
to juggle with science. The fact that motion of some sort
is common to two objects does not prove that that motion is
analogous in its nature, sources, or effects in the two cases,
or that it forms any link between them. A steam-engine
has motion, but is it analogous to ' that mobility ' which
characterizes a horse? And has a steam-engine therefore

254 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

' some of the attributes of an organized body ' ? Before
laying down this principle of analogous mobility in living
and not- living things, Sir K. Ball should have remembered
that Huxley, a biologist, flatly denies it — ' There is no
parallel between the actions of matter in the mineral world
and in living tissues.'

The last sentence of the paragraph is a delightful
specimen of that grand principle of evolutionary argument
— assertion. That principle might be formulated thus : —
' When there is absolutely no warrant for a thing either in
nature, science, or common sense, assert it roundly, and you
at once make it a probability, or even a fact.' As there is
not the smallest evidence in favour of such a thing, and as
on the contrary all known facts of nature and science, as
well as the dictates of common sense, are dead against it
there is no other way left to convert a grain of sand into an
organized body but assertion; so Sir R. Ball asserts it like a
man. With a directness which he does not exhibit else-
where he sets this down as a fact of ' ultimate analysis '
which ' we see ' ! Bravo, Sir Eobert !

Sir K. Ball next takes up ' the supreme discovery of
Natural Selection/ and proceeds to show its 'most captivating
simplicity.' He tells us that though its course ' is often not
easy to trace ' — which is true enough — ' the leading idea is
so simple that, once it is properly stated, I do not see how
any reasonable person can refuse his assent.' From this we
must conclude either that natural selection has not hitherto
got a fair statement, or else that the number of ' reasonable
persons ' is sadly limited. Lest it might be thought that
this is taking an unfair advantage by fastening on a sing] 3
sentence, which is perhaps afterwards qualified, turn on to
page 362,1 and read — ' The circumstantial evidence in favour
of natural selection is indeed so strong that no unprejudiced
person can refuse to accept it.' And again, turn on to the
end of the second last paragraph, and read — ' [The great
principle of Darwin] has afforded the solution of the
profound problem presented by organic life.' These state-

1 In Starry Realms.

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 255

ments are as unqualified as the most rabid Darwinian could
wish. We may in passing express our regret that the
'unprejudiced person,' though presumably the fittest to
survive, is being so steadily extinguished * by natural
selection.' Those who cannot ' refuse to accept ' Darwinism
are becoming decidedly rare. May Sir B. Ball long survive
as a ' persistent type,' and write us more good science and
less bad philosophy.

He goes on to give examples of the usual kind, showing
development by variation and heredity under man's intelli-
gent selection. He then tells us — ' What we have here
described [as taking place under man's intelligent care] is
going on everywhere on the grandest scale in nature.' Here,
surely, is assertion ' on the grandest scale.' We are not given
a hint that natural selection is in any way at a disadvantage
as compared with man's intelligent selection. Not the
smallest reference is made to difficulties or objections, so
that Sir K. Ball's readers might suppose natural selection
one of those fortunate institutions that have never had an
enemy. They must find out elsewhere, if they find out at
all, how every point of the ' great principle ' has been
attacked, and mostly with success, even to its very name,
which Darwin himself had to admit to be ' a false term.' l

Next, as an illustration of how natural selection does its
work, we are presented with a vivid picture of the precarious
existence of the herring ; from which our first conclusion
certainly is that the life of a herring is hardly worth living.
From the egg to the — grave, shall we call it? — the life of the
herring seems to be one continuous effort to dodge relentless
enemies. Water, air, and dry land swarm with foes. The
mackerel surrounds them below, the sea-gull swoops on
them from above, the treacherous tide lures them to their
death on the shore. Compared with these daily experiences,
the Six Hundred, with ' cannon to right of them, cannon to
left of them, cannon in front of them,' must be regarded as
fortunate. After all they hadn't cannon behind them, and
under them, and over them ! Henceforth Sir K. Ball's

1 Origin of Species (1892), p. 58.

256 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

readers, if they have hearts as well as stomachs, must find a
new trouble added to the bones in the discussion of their
morning relish. The bitter cry of persecuted herringdom
must reach them from the far-off sea, and turn the tasty
morsel to ashes in their mouths.

The survivors of this fearful massacre [he goes on to say] are
naturally objects of interest. How is it that they have been
spared when so many myriads of their brothers and sisters have
been annihilated? No doubt their safety is partly due to the
chapter of accidents. They happened to be out of the way when
the mackerel made a fatal rush. The sea-gull had eaten so many
that when it came to their turn he positively could not eat any
more. They got into the middle of the shoal afterwards, and
escaped the fish that preyed on its margin. But making every
allowance for the benefit of accidents, I think we must credit the
surviving herrings themselves with some share in their success.
The few that have survived were, on the whole, certainly not the
most stupid. They must have had quick sight, they must have
had nimble fins, they must have had vigilance and activity. They
must have been skilful in procuring food as well as in avoiding
danger. They had no maternal solicitude to watch over them [! J
Every little herring had to forage for himself, and to hide from or
elude his enemies as well as he could ; he had no kind of warning
when the -tide was falling, and that he would be left high and
dry if he did not get away from the edge[!j I think we must
admit that the few herrings that survive out of a million eggs
are aboye the average in whatever qualities best adapt the
herring for fighting tbe battle of life. I will not say that they
must be actually the very best of the million, but I think we
must admit that they were among the best.

It is to be hoped that the reader is duly impressed with
the weight of evidence contained in this passage. However,
considering the nature of the dangers just described, most
readers will, we think, feel inclined to attribute the survival
of the fittest herrings far more to what Sir E, Ball lightly
passes over as ' the chapter of accidents,' than to the superior
intelligence, nimbleness of fins, or knowledge of the tides,
which he would have us believe had most to do with the
selection.

But passing by all that, without even pausing to inquire
how the smart young herrings acquire a knowledge of the
tides, we ask ourselves after reading the illustration — To
what conclusion does it all lead? What point of the

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 257

evolution theory does it tend to prove ? Twice in the last
two sentences Sir R. Ball tells us ' we must admit ' that
probably the best herrings survive. Well, suppose we do
admit it, what follows ? Clearly that the breed of herrings
is steadily improving, and that a time may come when they
will deserve a better fate than the herring barrel. But does
this thrilling tale of the sea afford the least evidence of any
tendency in the superior herring to become a salmon or a
whale, not to say a bird or a horse ? Sir R. Ball shows
almost unlimited confidence in the credulity of his readers,
but he forbears asking them to swallow this.

Passing over the next paragraph, which is of the usual
kind, we take up the three following paragraphs (pp. 359-361),
which Sir R. Ball devotes to showing how imperceptible
may be the change of one species into another. All this
might indeed have been spared, as it is not the imperceptible-
ness of the process that is denied, and has to be proved, but
the fact of its taking place at all. However, let us look a
little into the argument, such as it is. As an illustration of
the imperceptibleness of the change from one generation to
the next of an improved kind, by which we are to suppose a
fish might ultimately become a bird, Sir R. Ball points to
the imperceptibleness of the growth of a baby into a man.
How the latter process can be an illustration of the former
altogether baffles us. If the baby imperceptibly grew into a
horse, wTe could see some meaning in the illustration ; but
that he should merely grow into a man does not seem to
throw much additional light on Darwinian evolution.

There is another aspect of the illustration in which it is
peculiarly unhappy as regards the object in view — viz., the
transmutation of one species into another. Everybody
knows that one of the chief difficulties of evolutionists in
proving such transmutation to have taken place is the
absence of all trace, either in existing organisms or in fossils,
of the transitional forms through which, according to the
theory, the first species must have gradually passed into
the second. These undiscoverable transitional forms are
of course the ' missing links ' — familiar even to the man in
the street.

VOL. i. n

?.58 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Now in Sir E. Ball's illustration the ' links ' between
child and man are not missing. In fact they are embarrass-
ingly numerous in the shape of photographs taken from week
to week. We might not be able to arrange these photo-
graphs in their proper order ; but we can easily see that
they represent transitional stages in the development of the
child into the man, and we have no difficulty in tracing the
man back through them to the child. Unfortunately in
the case which this is intended to illustrate — viz., the
supposed transition of one species into another, the embar-
rassment does not arise from the multiplicity of representa-
tives of the transitional stages, but from their total absence.
The direct suggestion of this contrast by Sir E. Ball's
illustration makes it, as we have said, a peculiarly unhappy
one. These three paragraphs, then, do not carry the mind
very far towards conviction, at least towards the conviction
desired by Sir E. Ball.

In the next paragraph (p. 361) he gives us quite a
fascinatingly simple account of how two species may be
derived from one by spontaneous variation and survival of
the fittest. Unhappily, however, it supposes a state of things
not found in free nature. To point to but one difficulty — no
notice is taken of. the promiscuous intercourse that takes
place in free nature, and the certain swamping thereby of
individual peculiarities. Even Darwin had to modify his
views on .this point.1 Sir B. Ball's A and B might hope to
become the ancestors of widely different cousins, if when
they discovered their varied gifts, they separated from each
other and from their less gifted relatives, and went into far
countries where there was no danger of inferior admixture.
Even then they would be greatly bothered by the unfor-
tunate tendency to reversion, which would soon encumber
their families with representatives of the old inferior stock,
thus making things pretty nearly as bad as before.

Sir E. Ball indeed admits that ' in no case would the
process be so simple as that here described ; a multitude of
circumstances will occur to complicate it.' But then he

1 Origin of Species (1892), p. 60.

SIR ROBERT S. BALL ON EVOLUTION 259

does not leave it to be supposed that the complication will
hinder it. Indeed, he at once goes on to state that he
regards the whole contention as proved — ' Enough has been
said to show that in the great principle of natural selection
we have a means of producing animals and plants which in
the course of time will differ widely from other organisms
from the same progenitors' — which, 'by the way, was not
the thing to be proved at all, as far as the theory of evolution
is concerned. What we want produced from the same
progenitors is not ividely different cousins, but different
species — a very different thing.

Sir E. Ball closes the case for natural selection by calmly
telling us1 that ' no one has ever seen a new species devel-
oped by natural selection, but that is because no one has
ever lived long enough for that purpose. ' That is the sole
reason, according to Sir E. Ball. He does not think it
necessary to add, as another possible reason, because, so far
as is known, it never happened.

The next paragraph touches shortly on the evidence of
geology, and supplies us with yet another instance of
unqualified assertion for which there is not a particle of
warrant, and which is flatly contradicted by evolutionists
who are better geologists than Sir E. Ball. Having referred
to the fragmentary nature of the geological record at pre-
sent, he roundly asserts of those fragments : — * They show
us several of the links which connect one class of animals
with another in the way the Darwinian theory suggests ' — in
other words, support the Darwinian theory. Without going
into further detail, we may let Professor Huxley answer
that — ' An impartial survey of the truths of palaeontology
negatives the doctrine [of evolution] ; for it either shows us
no evidence of such modification, or demonstrates it to have
been very slight' He says the evidence from the fossiliferous
rocks is ' quite incompatible with the theory.'

Sir E. Ball finishes with an illustration from mathe-
matics, into which we need not follow him. It is simply
another false analogy added to those that have gone before.

1 Page 362. a Lay Sertnans.

260 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Enough has been said to show that the proverbial shoemaker
was not more unlucky when he left his last than the astro-
nomer when he left his stars and planets to try his hand at
evolution. From the moment when, forgetting his own
admonition that ' the functions of the astronomer are at an
end,' he passes into an unfamiliar region, his essay is little
better than a succession of groundless assertions, fallacious
analogies, mistakes, and mishaps, which make us almost
doubt that this can be the master who has delighted and
instructed us in so many beautiful works, whose skilful pen
has made ' the story of the heavens ' as pleasant reading as
a romance.

Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.

There, and not with the evolutionists, Sir E. Ball will
find her.

E. GAYNOE, C.M.

[ 261 ]

IRotes anb (Sluevtes

THEOLOGY

CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Kindly give your opinion on the validity of
the marriage contracted in the following circumstances : — A
girl — a vaga — who chanced to be living in my parish, wished
to marry a man from a neighbouring parish. Acting as the
proprius parochus vagae, I made arrangements for the marriage.
The parties, however, expressed a wish to be married in a
neighbouring parish, where one of the parochial clergy — a
relative of the bridegroom — was to say a Nuptial Mass. I
delegated my curate to assist at the marriage, and he did so.
Is the marriage valid or doubtful ?

P.P.

For the purposes of the Tridentine Law the presence of
the parish priest of the place in which the marriage of vagi is
contracted, or of another priest delegated by him, is neces-
sary for the validity of the marriage. The presence of
any other priest whatever is not sufficient. The opinion of
those who held that a parish priest might, anywhere in his
own parish or out of it, assist at the marriage of vagi, is
pronounced by Murray to be prorsus obsoleta et improbabilis.1

Apart, therefore, from local legislation, the parish priest
had, in the case proposed, no power to assist at this
marriage outside his own parish ; nor could he delegate to
his curate a power that he himself did not possess.

It is just possible, however, that the marriage is
valid, though the statement of the case does not give us
the data to decide. If the parish priest of the place in
which the marriage was celebrated assisted at the marriage,
it is, of course, valid. The woman, having no domicile, or

1 Le Imped. Mat., 337; Con. Feije, n. 238 ; Lehmkuhl, ii. 776.

262 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

quasi-domicile, could validly contract anywhere before the
parish priest of the place, or any other priest duly dele-
gated to assist at the marriage in that place.

Needless to say, too, the marriage is valid if contracted
before the parochus sponsi.

The statement sent us does not exclude either of these
hypotheses. We hazard them to save the validity of a
marriage otherwise invalid.

POINT-TO-POINT RA.CES

EEV. DEAR SIR, — A Subscriber would feel thankful for an
answer in an early number of the I. E. RECORD, as to whether
the reunion, usually termed ' a point-to-point race/ with which
the sporting gentry in some counties wind up the hunting season, •
should be regarded as falling under the prohibition of the
Maynooth Statutes, — A publicis equorum cursibus, etc.

K.

The statute referred to reads : —

A publicis equorum cursibus, . . . prorsus abstineant [clericij.
Si quis vero clericus sive saecularis sive regularis bane legem
violaverit, suspensionem ipso facto incurrat.

We cannot claim to have a very accurate knowledge of
the essential notes of a point-to-point hunt race, or to be
able to determine how exactly it differs from other horse
races. But nothing that we do know would warrant us in
thinking that these point-to-point hunt races fall outside
the operation of the statute.

We print this question in the hope that some one more
competent may give his views to our correspondent and the
other readers of the I. E. EECORD.

D. MANNIX.

NOTES AND QUERIES 263

LITURGY

THE DRESS TO BE WORN BY CANONS ON VARIOUS
OCCASIONS

EEV. DEAR SIR, — You will much oblige me and others by
stating in the next number of the I. E. RECORD what is the
proper dress of a Canon — (1) In choir. (2) When he receives
the Blessed Eucharist, more laici; say on the concluding morning
of his annual retreat. (3) When he administers the Sacrament
of Baptism solemnly. (4) When he assists at a marriage which
is not followed by the Mass pro Sponso et Sponsa. (5) When he
preaches. CANONICUS.

P.S. — The Ordinary has decided as to the matter, form, and
colour of the dress.

1. By the common law of the Church, canons are not
permitted to wear any distinctive habit or dress whether in
choir or elsewhere. Hence, without the permission of the
Holy See, canons can wear in choir only the black soutane
and surplice. It generally happens, however, that with the
diploma sanctioning the erection of a Chapter is given per-
mission for the use of a distinctive habit, consisting usually
of the rochet, and mozzetta or cappa. This special dress is,
then, the proper dress for a canon when in choir in the
cathedral church of his own diocese, in his own church, —
but merely by custom, — and when with other canons he
attends the bishop capitulariter in any church in the
diocese. ' That the canons may proceed capitulariter,'
writes Dr. O'Leary, ' the presence of three preceded by
their cross is required and sufficient.'1 Of the rochet, cappa,
and mozzetta, the same learned author writes : —

The rochet is never to be worn uncovered by anyone except
the Ordinary ; hence, if the cappa or mozzetta is to be laid aside

1 Pontificalia , by the Rev. Patrick O'Leary, D.D., Dean, Maynooth College.
Dublin: Browne & Nolan, Ltd., 1895, p. 83, n. 14. The answers to all the
questions asked here by our esteemed correspondent can be found by anyone in
this valuable treatise. The author treats the various subjects which come up
for discussion, not only from the standpoint of the common law, but also from
that of custom, and of special concessions. To canons, to the various grades of
prelates, and to all who have to take part — even as mere spectators — in
episcopal functions, this handy volume appears to us to be almost indispensable.

264 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

for any reason, the rochet, too, must be laid aside for a surplice,
or a surplice must be put on over the rochet. The cappa, or
mozzetta, being a choral dress, may be worn for all functions for
which the choral dress, and not the surplice, is prescribed ; and
therefore for all functions except the administration of the
Sacraments. . . . The cappa is used in the winter, i.e., as long
as the bishop wears the heavier cappa with ermine. In summer,
i.e., when the bishop wears the lighter cappa without ermine,
the canons wear the surplice; however, in some churches the
cappa is retained in summer, the ermine being replaced with silk
of the same colour as the rest of the cappa.1

2. When a canon receives Holy Communion more laid
he wears a stole in addition to his ordinary choir dress.
Hence, if he communicates in this manner in a church, or
in circumstances in which he is allowed to wear the special
dress of a canon, he puts the stole round his neck without
removing cappa or mozzetta. It is not generally permitted
to wear the stole along with the cappa or mozzetta, but
an exception is made when the action requiring the use
of the stole is of brief duration, as when receiving Holy
Communion,2 and during the imposition of hands at an
ordination.3

3. We have just stated that the stole cannot, as a general
rule, be worn over the cappa or mozzetta. Hence, when a
canon is the celebrant of a function for which the use of
surplice and stole is prescribed, he must divest himself of
the cappa or mozzetta ; and as he is not allowed to wear the
rochet uncovered, it follows that he must either replace
the rochet by a surplice — the liturgical vestment in the
administration of the Sacraments — or he must put on the
surplice over the rochet. The reply to our correspondent's
question regarding the dress of a canon when he administers
Baptism solemnly is, that he should wear only the surplice
and stole, or the surplice and stole over the rochet.

4. From the principles laid down in reply to the preceding
question, it follows that a canon assisting at a marriage
which is not immediately followed by the Nuptial Mass,
should vest, as we have seen he should, when administering
Baptism solemnly.

1 Ibid., pp. 86-87, nn. 8, 9, 10.

2 Me.rati, par. 2., 1 1. 10., n. Iv. Bourbon, n 230, &c.
;i O'Leary, loc. cit., p. 87, n. 9. Bourbon, loc. cil.

NOTES AND QUERIES 265

5. Canons are allowed to wear rocbet and cappa, or
mozzetta, but witbout stole, wben preacbing in tbeir own
cburcbes only.1

THE TITULAR OF A CHURCH TO BE COMMEMORATED IN
THE < SUFFRAG-IA '

KEY. DEAE SIR, — Are the secular clergy in Ireland bound in
the recitation of the office to the commemoratio de patrono vel
titulari ecclesiae amongst the suffragia ?

A SUBSCRIBER.

According to tbe general rubrics of the Breviary all the
clergy, whether secular or regular, who are legitimately
appointed to officiate in a church, are bound to make in tbe
suffragia the commemoration of the patron or titular of
that Church. The words of the rubric are : —

Commemorationes communes seu Suffragia de Sanctis . . .
dicuntur in fine Vesperarum et Laudum . . . et illis adjungitur
commemoratio de patrono vel titulo ecclesiae, etc.2

Writing on this rubric, De Herdt says : —

Certum est de praeceptio in snffragiis fieri debere commemo-
rationem titularis in cujus honorem ecclesia est dedicata vel
saltern benedicta, sive sit sanctus, sive persona divina, seu aliquod
mysteriurn, ut SS. Trinitas, Spiritus Sanctus, Corpus Christi,
SS. Salvator, etc., etiamsi contraria vigeat consuetudo, aut com-
memoratio in suffrages fiat de patrono loci vel religionis.3

The general law, then, as announced in the rubrics of
the Breviary, and proclaimed by the interpreters, is that the
commemoration of the patron or titular of a Church must
be made in the suffragia, by all who are legitime adscripts
to that Church. And why should the secular clergy in
Ireland be excepted from the obligation of this law ? The
general rubrics of the Breviary and of the Missal form a
very strict code of ecclesiastical laws, and are absolutely
universal in their application. They bind, therefore, in
the remotest parts of Ireland, indeed of the world, as strictly
as they do in Rome itself, and without a special dispensa-
tion no one may deviate from them.

D. O'LOAN.

1 O'Leary, loc. cit., Martinucii, lib. viii., cap. viii., n. 13, etc.

2 Titul. 35, n. 1. » Sacr. Lit. Praxis., torn. 2, n. 36U.

f 266 ]

CORRESPONDENCE

THE NEW CATECHISM

REV. DEAR SIR, — I have read with great interest, in the two
last numbers of the I. E. RECORD, the admirable letters relating
to the forthcoming issue of a new Catechism ; and believing, as I
do, that its use will not be confined within the limits of Dublin
Diocese, I look forward with delight to the approaching time
when a much-needed desideratum will be supplied.

With several of the views put forward by your learned
correspondents I am in thorough accord ; but from some of them
I am inclined to dissent. The idea of adding a dozen or more
questions, with Scriptural answers, is an excellent one ; but,
instead of placing them at the end as an appendix, I would
prefer that they be distributed through the body of the text,
wherever they might be fittingly inserted. Questions on doctrinal
matters should, whenever convenient, be answered, partly or
entirely, in Scriptural language. When this is done, the answers
carry with them far greater weight ; the children become familiar
with the leading texts that demonstrate dogmatic or moral truths ;
and a ready proof is ever after available, either to guide the
learner or to refute the gainsayer. I would urgently recommend
that at the end of the Catechism there would be inserted three
or four pages of indulgenced prayers, such as may be had on
leaflets from Catholic publishers. The more prayers are learned
in childhood, the more will be recited in later years. Children
who attend convent schools are taught many indulgenced aspira-
tions ; but the majority of Irish children do not receive a convent
education, and unless they find indulgenced prayers in their
Catechism, they are not likely to seek or to learn them else-
where. Teachers find it the most effectual way of making
children learn the Catechism by appointing a small number of
questions for each day's lesson. Five questions, with answers of
ordinary length, form a suitable lesson for children of average
intelligence. If, therefore, the questions were divided into
groups of five, and numbered on the margin 1, 5, 10, 15, &c., the
teacher would thereby be greatly facilitated. In the National
Catechism, generally used since the Synod of Maynooth, we have

CORRESPONDENCE 267

definitions of the theological virtues, but no short acts of them
suitable to the capacity of children. This is a serious omission,
especially in a catechism whose chief feature, and whose chief
fault, are its prolixity. Neither is there any enumeration of the
Mysteries of the Rosary, the daily prayers of lay or cleric; nor of
the Eight Beatitudes, the summary of Gospel morality ; nor of
the Seven Spiritual and the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy,
the special test that will determine the lot of every soul when
cited to judgment. All of these will, it is hoped, find a place in
the pages of the new Catechism. Children learn these enumera-
tions very quickly, and remember them very easily, because they
partake of the form of a school rhyme.

The accuracy of certain words in the Lord's Prayer and the
Apostles' Creed has been called in question ; but, I think, without
sufficient reason. It is said that ' crucifixus, mortuus, et sepul-
tus ' should be translated, ' was crucified, died, and was buried.'
The current translation, both on the title of ancient and vener-
able usage and grammatical accuracy, is, to my mind, preferable,
and should not be altered. Deponent verbs like ' morior ' usually
carry with them an active signification : but not unfrequently,
in classical as well as ecclesiastical Latin, they are used in
a passive sense. The question then arises: Should we inter-
pret ' mortuus,' in the case under consideration, in the passive
voice ? I answer that we should ; for, in the first place, it
is bracketed with and between the two passive verbs, ' cruci-
fixus ' and ' sepultus,' and it would be contrary to the rules of
language to insert an active verb between two that are evidently
passive. In the second place, ' mortuus ' signifies a continued
state of death, as the word ' dead ' implies, and not a transient
act merely, as ' died ' expresses. For we know from the inspired
narrative that 'crucifixus' means an agony of three hours; 'sepul-
tus ' means an entombment of nearly forty hours ; and 'mortuus '
means a continued state of lifelessness for fully forty hours.
'Died' would not accurately express this continued state, whereas
' dead ' correctly does. Furthermore, the reality of our Lord's
death is more emphatically declared in the old form, ' dead, 'than
it would be in the new one suggested ; and the ground is thus
more effectually taken from under the feet of rationalists, who
advance the fanciful theory of suspended animation to explain
away the miracle of the Eesurrection. In contending that ' mor-
tuus ' should be rendei-ed by the word ' dead,' we may refer to a

268 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

parallel case in St. John xi. 14 : ' Lazarus mortuus est.' In
every version of the Douay Bible these words are translated :
Lazarus is dead. Why not, in this case, say ' Lazarus died ' ?
Because it would not adequately convey the idea expressed in
verses xvii. and xxxix. of the same chapter, that Lazarus was
already a corpse for four days in the grave. Therefore, as the
death of our Lord is the corner-stone of Christianity, the word
' dead ' is preferable to any other, because it more forcibly
announces this fundamental truth.

Another expression in the Creed is brought forward for
amendment. One of your reverend correspondents states that
' rose again ' is incorrect, because implying that our Lord rose a
second time. No such implication is, however, suggested by the
word ; again.' The obvious meaning is that He rose again to
life, and not rose again — that is, a second time — from the tomb.
But what removes all ambiguity, and places the old translation
beyond all controversy, is that in the Apostles' Creed it is not
' surrexit,' but ' re-surrexit,' occurs; and this latter word has
only the one unquestionable meaning : He rose again.

Amendments in the wording of the Lord's prayer are
suggested, and, if adopted, they would hardly, I think, be
improvements. ' Forgive us our debts ' would not impart the
real meaning of the fifth petition. In modern English this word
has divested itself of its ancient meaning, and now signifies
something due, and not sins. In the Lord's Prayer it is sins in
general that are meant, and not merely sins against justice.
This is apparent from St. Luke's narrative of the Pater Noster,
where, in the Greek original, he uses the word d/ucym'as, properly
rendered in the Vulgate by 'peccata.' Hence the word 'debts,
according to its modern acceptation, would not correctly express
the intended meaning.

Exception is also taken to the word ' trespasses ' in the Lord's
Prayer, as clumsy and out of date. This word is an old Norman
one, derived from trespasser, and literally means ' passing beyond
the bounds of law.' It is true, that it has a restricted legal mean-
ing ; but it must also be admitted that it still retains its original
signification of a moral offence. Until the latter meaning of the
word becomes obsolete, it seems better not to trespass against
the usage of centuries by substituting another term, while
expunging ' trespass.' I am not an advocate for change ; but, if
one were made at all, I would suggest that the wording of this

CORRESPONDENCE 269

petition might be : ( Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who
sin against us.' Still the old maxim seems, in this case, to be a
wise one : ' Let well enough alone.'

There is a word in the Lord's Prayer which seems fairly
open to criticism. It is the word ' daily ' in the fourth petition.
St. Mathew relates the prayer in chapter vi. of his Gospel, and
St. Luke gives it in an abridged form in chapter xi. of his. The
Greek version of both evangelists contains the same words :
eVioiViov aprov. The Vulgate translation for lirtova-tov in
St. Mathew is ' superstantialem,' while in St. Luke it is ' quoti-
dianum.' These words are not certainly identical in meaning
either in Latin or in English. Are we then to conclude that one
of them is erroneous ? Certainly not. But it follows that the
original word has two distinct and natural meanings, and a
different one is given to it in each of the two evangelists. It is
not unusual in Scripture, as well as in our own language, for
words to bear two or more meanings which must in individual
cases be gathered from the context. Now, it seems that the
primary meaning of tVtowiov is found in St. Mathew, and the
reference is to the Blessed Eucharist, and the secondary one is
found in St. Luke, where the reference is to corporal food, panem
quotidianwn. The most learned commentators thus interpret the
varied translations of this word in the Vulgate.

In the other six petitions of the Lord's Prayer we supplicate,
primarily at least, spiritual blessings or deprecate spiritual evils,
but ' daily bread ' is a temporal blessing, and does not harmonize
with the principal meaning of the petitions that either precede or
follow it. Our English version of the Lord's Prayer is all taken
from St. Mathew, except the one word ' supersubstantial,' and
there does not appear any valid reason why this important word
should make room for one borrowed from another evangelist.
If the prayer were taken in its entirety from the one source, I
would not recommend for English use such a puzzling and
polysyllabic word as ' supersubstantial.' A more intelligible
equivalent should be employed. The petition might be rendered :
' Give us this day our heavenly bread,' or ' our living bread,'
or "the bread of life," as our Lord Himself described His
promised gift.

It has been suggested that the present might be an opportune
time for shortening the Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, read
before the public Masses on Sundays and holidays. I consider

270

that the proposed change would not be expedient. All the
charts containing the existing form of the Acts would then have
to make way for others with shorter formulas, and the faithful
would reasonably murmur against the abandonment of prayers
handed down through two languages for four generations.
Complaints are sometimes heard that the sermon or some
religious function is too long, but no one ever heard it said that
the Acts are too long or wearisome. It seems indeed that their
very length has several advantages, one of which is, that persons
coming late to Mass may, however, arrive before its commence-
ment, owing to the long prayers being read as a preparation. In
spite of every warning to the contrary there will, especially in
country districts, be always some who reach the church only
when the Acts are nearly ended, and feel at ease when they are so
fortunate. as to miss no part of Mass.

I have not seen a proof of the new Catechism, but I have
learned from these acquainted with its contents and capable
of forming a sound judgment on its merits that it has the three
essential qualities of such a work, namely, brevity, simplicity,
and accuracy. Such a Catechism will be an inestimable boon in
most dioceses of Ireland, and its publication will be cordially
welcomed by clergy, catechists, and children.

AKMACANUS.

[ 271 ]

DOCUMENTS

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ON THE PROHIBITION AND
CENSURE OP BOOKS

SANCTISSIMI DOMINI NOSTRI LEONIS DIVINA PKOVIDENTIA PAPAE XIII
CONSTITUTIO APOSTOLICA DE PROHIBITIONE ET CENSUEA LIBRO-
RUM

LEO EPISCOPUS

SERVUS SERVORUM DEI AD PERPETUAM REI MEMORIAM

Officiorum ac munerum, quae diligentissime sanctissimeque
servari in hoc apostolico fastigio, oportet, hoc caput atque haec
summa est, assidue vigilare atque omni ope contendere, ut inte-
gritas fidei morumque christianorum ne quid detrimenti capiat.
Idque, si unquam alias, maxime est necessarium hoc tempore,
cum, effrenatis licentia ingeniis ac moribus, omnis fere doctrina,
quam servator hominum lesus Christus tuendam Ecclesiae suae
ad salutem generis humani permisit, in quotidianum vocatur cer-
tamen atque discrimen. Quo in certamine variae profecto atque
innumerabiles sunt inimicorum calliditates artesque nocendi : sed
cum primis est plena periculorum intemperantia scribendi, dis-
seminandique in vulgus quae prave scripta sunt. Nihil enim
cogitari potest perniciosius ad inquinandos animos per contemp-
tum religionis perque illecebras multas peccandi. Quamobrem
tanti metuens mali, et incolumitatis fidei ac morum custos et
vindex Ecclesia, maturrime intellexit, remedia contra eiusmodi
pestem esse sumenda : ob eamque rem id perpetuo studuit, ut
homines, quoad in se esset, pravorum librorum lectione, hoc est
pessimo veneno, prohiberet. Vehemens hac in re studium beati
Pauli viderunt proxima originibus tempora : similique ratione
perspexit sanctorum Patrum vigilantiam, iussa episcoporuin, Con-
ciliorum decreta, omnis consequens aetas.

Praecipue vero monumenta litterarum testantur, quanta cura
diligentiaque in eo evigilaverint romani Pontifices, ne haeretico-
rum scripta, malo publico, impune serperent. Plena est exem-
plorum vetustas. Anastasius I scripta Origenis perniciosiora,
Innocentius I Pelagii, Leo magnus Manichaeorum opera omnia,
gravi edicto damnavere. Cognitae eadem de re sunt litterae

272 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

decretales de recipiendis et non recipiendis libris, quas Gelasius
opportune dedit. Similiter, decursu aetatum, Monotheletarum,
Abaelardi, Marsilii Patavini, Wicleffi et Hussii pestilentes Hbros,
sententia apostolicae Sedis confixit.

Saeculo autem decimo quinto, comperta arte nova libraria,
non modo in prave scripta animadversum est, quae lucem
aspexissent, sed etiam ne qua eius generis posthac ederentur,
caveri coeptum. Atque hanc providentiam non levis aliqua
caussa, sed omnino tutela honestatis ac salutis publicae per illud
tempus postulabat : proptersa quod artem per se optimam, maxi-
marum utilitatum parentem, christianae gentium human itati
propagandae natam, in instrumentum ingens ruinarum nimis
multi celeriter deflexerant. Magnum prave scriptorum rnalum,
ipsa vulgandi celeritate maius erat ac velocius effecturn. Itaque
saluberrimo consilio cum Alexander VI., turn Leo X. decessores
Nostri, certas tulere leges, utique congruentes iis temporibus ac
moribus, quae officinatores libraries in officio continerent.

Mox graviore exorto turbine, multo vigilantius ac fortius
oportuit malarum haereseon prohibere contagia. Idcirco idem
Leo X., posteaque Clemens VII. gravissime sanxerunt, ne cui
legere, neu retinere Lutheri libros fas esset. Cum vero pro
illius aevi infelicitate crevisset praeter modum atque in omnes
partes pervasisset perniciosorum librorum impura colluvies,
ampliore ac praesentiore remedio opus esse videbatur. Quod
quidem remedium opportune primus adhibuit Paulus IV. decessor
Noster, videlicet elencho proposito scriptorum et librorum, a
quorum usu cavere fideles oporteret. Non ita multo post Triden-
tinae Synodi Patres gliscentem scribendi legendique licentiam
novo coEsilio coercendam curaverunt. Eorum quippe voluntate
iussuque lecti ad id praesules et theologi non solum augendo per-
poliendoque Indici, quern Paulus IV. ediderat, dedere operam,
sed Eegulas etiam conscripsere, in editione, lectione, usuqu£
librorum servandas : quibus Kegulis Pius IV. apostolicae auctori-
tatis robur adiecit.

Verum salutis publicae ratio, quae Eegulas Tridentinas initio
genuerat, novari aliquid in eis, labentibus aetatibus, eadem iussit.
Quamobrem romani Pontifices nominatimque Clemens VIII.,
Alexander VII., Benedictus XIV., gnari temporum et memores
prudentiae, plura decrevere, quae ad eas explicandas atque
accommodandas tempori valuerunt.

Quae res praeclare confirmant, praecipuas romanorum Ponti-

DOCUMENTS 273

ficum curas in eo fuisse perpetuo positas, ut opinionum errores
morumque corruptelam, geminam hanc civitatum labem ac
ruinam, pravis libris gigni ac disseminari solitam, a civili homi-
num societate defenderent. Neque fructus fefellit operam, quam
diu in rebus publicis administrandis rationi imperandi ao prohi-
bendi lex aeterna praefuit, rectoresque civitatum cum potestate
sacra in unum consensere.

Quae postea consecuta sunt, nemo nescit. Videlicet cum
adiuncta rerum atque hominum sensim mutavissat dies, fecit id
Ecclesia prudenter more suo, quod, perspecta natura temporum,
magis expedire atque utile esse hominum saluti videtur. Plures
Kegularum Indicis praescriptiones, quae sxcidisse opportunitate
pristina videbantur, vel decreto ipsa sustulit, vel more usque
alicubi invalescente antiquari benigne simul ac provide sivit.
Eecentiore memorin, datis ad Archiepiscopos Episcoposque e
principatu pontificio litteris, Pius IX Eegulam X magna ex parte
mitigavit. Praeterea, propinquo iam Concilio magno Vaticano,
doctis viris, ad argumenta paranda delectis, id negorium dedit, ut
expenderent atque aestimarent Eegulas Indicis universas iudi-
ciumque ferrent, quid de iis facto opus esset. Illi commutandas,
consentientibus sententiis, iudicavere. Idem se et sentire et
petere a Concilio plurimi ex Patribus aperte profitebantur.
Episcoporum Galliae extant hac de re litter ae, quarum sententia
est, necesse esse et sine cunctatione faciendum, ut iliac, Eegulae
et universa res\Indicis novo prorsus modo nostrae aetati melius attem-
perato et observatu faciliori instaurarentur. Idem eo tempore
iudicium fuit Episcoporum Germaniae, plane petentium, ut
Eegulae Indicis . . . recenti revisioni et redactioni submittantur.
Quibus Episcopi concinunt ex Italia aliisque e regionibus com-
plures.

Qui quidem omnes si temporum, si institutorum civilium, si
morum popularium habeatur ratio, sane aequa postulant et cum
materna Ecclesiae sanctae caritate convenientia. Etenim in tarn
celeri ingeniorum cursu, nullus est scientiarum campus, in quo
non litterae licentius excurrant : inde pestilentissimorum libro-
rum quotidiana colluvies. Quod vero gravius est, in tarn grandi
malo non modo connivent, sed magnam licentiam dant leges
publicae. Hincex una parte, suspensi religions animi plurimo-
rum : ex altera, quidlibet legendi impunita copia.

Hisce igitur incommodis medendum rati, duo facienda duxi-
mus, ex quibus norma agendi in hoc genere certa et perspicua

VOL. i, s

274 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

omnibus suppetat. Videlicet librorum improbatae lectionis dili-
gentissime recognosci Indicem ; subinde, maturum cum fuerit,
ita recognitum vulgari iussimus. Praeterea ad ipsas Eegulas
mentem adiecimus, easque decrevimus, incolumi earum natura,
efficere aliquanto molliores, ita plane ut iis obtemperare, dum-
modo quis ingenio inalo non sit, grave, arduumque esse non
possit. In quo non modo exempla sequimur decessorum Nostro-
rum, sed maternum Ecclesiae studium imitamur : quae quidein
nihil tarn expetit, quam se impertire benignam, sanandosque ex
Be natos ita semper curavit, curat, ut eorum infirmitati amanter
studioseque parcat.

Itaque matura deliberatione, adhibitisque S. R. E. Cardinali-
bus e sacro Consilio libris notandis, edere Deer eta Generalia
statuimus, quae infra scripta, unaque cum bac Constitutione
coniuncta sunt : quibus idem sacrum Consilium postbac utatur
unice quibusque catholici bomines toto orbe religiose pareant.
Ea vim legis habere'sola volumus, abrogatis' Eegulis sacrosanctae
Tridentinae Synodi iussu editis, Observationibus, Instructione,
Decretis, Monitis, et quovis alio decessorum Nostrorum bac de re
statute iussuque, una excepta Constitutione Benedicti XIV.
Soliicita et provida quam, sicut adbuc viguit, ita in posterum
vigere integram volumus.

DECBETA GENERALIA
DE PKOHIBITIONE ET CENSURA LIBRORUM.

TlTULUS I.
DE PROHIBITIONS LIBRORUM.

CAPUT I. — De prohibitis apostatarum, haereticorum, schismati-
corum, aliorumque scriptorum libris.

1. Libri omnes, quos ante annum MDC aut Summi Pontifices,

oecumenica damnarunt, et qui in novo Indice non
recensentur,^eS4em modo damnati habeantur, sicut olim dam-
nati fuerunt : iis "exceptis, qui per baec Decreta Generalia
permittuntur.

2. Libri apostatarum? haereticorum, scbismaticorum et quo-
rumcumque scriptorum haeresim vel scbisma propugnantes.
aut ipsa religionis fundanienta utcumque evertentes, omnino
probibentur.

3. Item prohibentur acatbolicorum libri, qui ex professo de

DOCUMENTS 275

religions tractant, nisi constet nihil in eis contra fidem catholicarn
contineri.

4. Libri eorundem auctorum, qui ex professo de religione non
tractant, sed obiter tantum fidei veritates attingunt, iure eccle-
siastico prohibit! non habeantur, donee speciali decreto prescript!
baud fuerint.

CAPUT II. — De Editionibus textus originalis et versionum non
vulgarium Sacrae Scripturae.

5. Editiones textus originalis et antiquarum versionum catho-
licarum Sacrae Scripturae, etiam Ecclesiae Orientalis, ab
acatholicis quibuscumque publicatae, etsi fideliter et integre
editae appareant, iis dumtaxat, qui studiis tbeologicis vel publiois
dant operam dummodo tamen non impugnentur in prolegomenis
aut adnotationibus catholicae fidei dogmata, permittuntur.

6. Eadem ratione, et sub iisdem conditionibus, permittuntur
alia versiones Sacrorum Bibliorum sivelatina, sive alia lingua non
vulgari ab acatholicis editae.

CAPUT III. — De Versionibus vernaculis Sacrae Scripturae.

7. Cum experimento manifesturn sit, si Sacra Biblia vulgari
lingua passim sine discrimine permittantur, plus inde, obhominum
temeritatem, detriment!, quam utilitatis oriri ; Versiones omnes
in lingua vernacula, etiam a viris catholicis confectae, omnino
prohibentur, nisi fuerint ab Apostolica Sede approbatae, aut
editae sub vigilantia Episcoporum cum adnotationibus desumptis
ex Sanctis Ecclesiae Patribus, atque ex doctis catholicisque
scriptoribus.

8/Interdicuntur versiones omnes Sacrorum Bibliorum, qua vis
vulgari lingua ab acatholicis quibuscumque confectae, atque illae
praesertim, quae per Societates Biblicas, a Eomanis Pontificibus
non semel damnatas, divulgantur, cum in iis saluberrimae
Ecclesiae leges de divinis libris edendis funditus posthabeantur.

Hae nihilominus versiones iis, qui studiis theologicis vel
biblicis dant operam, permittuntur : iis servatis, quae supra
(n. 5) statuta sunt.

CAPUT IV. — De Libris obscenis.

9. Libri, qui res lascivas seu obscenas ex professo tractant,
narrant, aut decent, cum non solum fidei, sed et morum, qui
huiusinodi librorum lectione facile corrumpi solent, ratio habenda
sit, omnino prohibentur.

276 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

10. Libri auctorum, sive antiquorum, sive recentiorum, quos
classicos vocant, si hac ipsa turpitudinis labe infecti sunt,
propter sermonis elegantiam et proprietatem, iis tantum permit-
tuntur quos officii aut rnagisterii ratio excusat : nulla tamen
rations pueris vel adolescentibus, nisi solerti cura expurgati,
tradendi aut praelegendi erunt.

CAPUT V. — De quibusdam specialis argumenti libris.

11. Damnantur libri, in quibus Deo, aut Beatae Virgini Mariae,
vel Sanctis aut Catholicae Ecclesiae eiusque Cultui, vel Sacra-
mentis, aut Apostolicae Sedi detrahitur. Eidem reprobationis
iudicio subiacent ea opera in quibus inspirationis Sacrae
Scripturae conceptus pervertitur, aut eius extensio nimis
coarctatur. Prohibentur quoque libri, qui data opera Eccle-
siasticam Hierarchiam, aut statum clericalem vel religiosum
probris afficiunt.

12. Nefas esto libros edere, legere aut retinere in quibus sorti-
legia, divinatio, magia, evocatio spirituum, aliaeque huius generis
superstitiones docentur, vel cominendantur.

13. Libri aut scripta, quae narrant novas apparitiones, reve-
lationes, visiones, prophetias, miracula, vel quae novas inducunt
devotiones, etiam sub praetextu quod sint privatae, si publicentur
absque legitima Superiorum Ecclesiae licentia proscribuntur.

14. Prohibentur pariter libri, qui duellum, suicidium, vel
divortiuin licita statuunt, qui de sectis massonicis, vel aliis eiusdem
generis societatibus agunt, easque utiles et non perniciosas
Ecclesiae et civili societati esse contendunt, et qui errores ab
Apostolica Sede proscriptos tuentur.

CAPUT VI. — De Sacris Imaginibus et Indulgentiis.

15. Imagines quomodocumque impressae Domini Nostri lesu
hristi, Beatae Mariae Virginis, Angelorum atque Sanctorum,

vel aliorum Servorum Dei ab Ecclesiae sensu et decretis dif-
formes, omnino vetantur. Novae vero, sive preces habeant
adnexas, sive absque illis edantur, sine Ecclesiasticae potestatis
licentia non publicentur.

16. Universis interdicitur indulgentias apocrj^phas, et a Sancta
Sede Apostolica proscriptas vel revocatas quomodocumque
divulgare. Quae divulgatae iam fuerint, de manibus fidelium
auferantur.

17. Indulgentiarum libri omnes, summaria, libslli, folia, etc ,
in quibus earem concessiones continentur, non publicentur absque.
coinpetentis auctoritatis licentia.

DOCUMENTS 277

CAPUT VII. — De libris liturgicis ei precatoriis.

18. In authenticis editionibus Missalis, Breviarii, Eitualis,
Caeremonialis Episcoporum, Pontificalis romani, aliorumque
librorum liturgicorum a Sancta Sede Apostolica approbatorum,
nemo quidquam immutare praesumat : si secus factum fuerit,
hae novae editiones prohibentur.

19. Litaniae oranes, praeter antiquissimas et communes, quae
Breviariis, Missalibus, Pontificalibus ac Kitualibuscontinentur, et
praeter Litanias de Beata Virgine, quae in sacra Aede Lauretana
decantari solent, et litanias Sanctissimi Nominis lesu iam a Sancta
Sede approbatas, non edantur sine revisione et approbatione
Ordinarii.

20. Libros, aut libellos precum, devotionis, vel doctrinae
institutionisque religiosae, moralis, asceticae, mysticae, aliosque
huiusmodi, quamvis ad fovendam populi christiani pietatem
conducere videantur, nemo praeter legitimae auctoritatis licentiam
publicet : secus prohibit! habeantur.

CAPUT VIII. — De Diariis, foliis et libellis periodicis.

21. Diaria, folia et libelli periodici, qui religionem aut bonos
mores data opera impetunt, non solum naturali, sed etiam
ecclesiastico iure proscripti habeantur.

Curent autem Ordinarii, ubi opus sit, de huiusmodi lectionis
periculo et damno fideles opportune monere.

22. Nemo e catholicis, praesertim e viris ecclesiasticis, in
huiusmodi diariis, vel foliis, vel libellis periodicis, quidquam,
nisi suadente iusta et rationabili causa, publicet.

CAPUT IX. — De facilitate legendi et retinendi libros prohibitos.

23. Libros sive specialibus, sive hisce Generalibus Decretis
proscriptos, ii tantum legere et retinere poterunt, qui a Sede
Apostolica, aut ab illis, quibus vices suas delegavit, opportunas
fuerint consecuti facultates,

24. Concedendis licentiis legendi et retinendi libros quoscum-
que prohibitos Eomani Pontifices Sacram Indicis Congregationem
praeposuere. Eadem nihilominus potestate gaudent, turn
Suprema Sancti Officii Congregatio, turn Sacra Congregatio de
Propaganda Fide pro regionibus suo regimini subiectis. Pro
Urbe tantum, haec facultas competit etiam Sacri Palatii
Apostolici Magistro.

25. Episcopi aliique Praelati iurisdictione quasi episcopal!

278 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

pollentes, pro singularibus libris, atque in casibus tantum urgen-
tibus, licentiam concedere valeant. Quod si iidem generalem a
Sede Apostolica impetraverint facultatera, ut fidelibus libros
proscriptos legendi retinendique licentiam impertiri valeant, earn
nonnisi cum delectu et ex iusta et rationabili causa concedant.

26. Omnes qui facultatem apostolicam consecuti sunt
legendi et retinendi libros prohibitos, nequeunt ideo legere
efc retinere libros quoslibet, aut ephemerides ab Ordinariis
locorum proscriptas, nisi eis in apostolico indulto expressa
facta fuerit potestas legendi et retinendi libros a quibuscumque
damnatos. Meminerint insuper qui licentiam legendi libros pro-
hibitos obtinuerunt, gravi se praecepto teneri huiusmodi libros ita
custodire, ut ad aliorum manus non perveniant.

CAPUT X. — De denunciatione pravorum librorum.

27. Quamvis catholicorum omnium sit, maxime eorum, qui
doctrina praevalent, perniciosos libros Episcopis, aut Apostolicae
Sedi denunciare ; id tamen special! titulo pertinet ad Nuntios,
Delegates Apostolicos, locorum Ordinarios, atque Eectores Uni-
versitatum doctrinae laude florentium.

28. Expedit ut in pravorum librorum denunciatione non
solum libri titulus indicetur, sed etiam, quoad fieri potest, causae
exponantur ob quas liber censura dignus existimatur. lis autem
ad quos denunciatio defertur, sanctum erit, denunciantium
nomina secreta servare.

29. Ordinarii, etiam tamquam Delegati Sedis Apostolicae,
libros, aliaque scripta noxia in sua Dioecesi edita vel diffusa pro-
scribere, et e manibus tidelium auferre studeant. Ad Apostoli-
cum iudicium ea deferant opera vel scripta, quae subtilius examen
exigunt, vel in quibus ad salutarem effectum consequendum,
supremae auctoritatis sententia requiri videatur.

TITULUS II.

DJB; CENSURAE LIBRORUM.

CAPUT I. — De Praelatis librorum ccnsurae praepositis.

30. Penes quos potestas sit sacrorum bibliorum editiones et
versiones adprobare vel permittere ex iis liquet, quae supra (n. 7)
statuta sunt.

31. Libros ab Apostolica Sede proscriptos nemo audeat iterum

DOCUMENTS 279

in lucem edere : quod si ex gravi et rationabili causa, singularis
aliqua exceptio hac in re admittenda videatur, id nunquam net,
nisi obtenta prius sacrae Indicis Congregationis licentia, serva-
tisque conditionibus ab ea praescriptis.

32. Quae ad causas Beatincationumet Canonizationum Servo-
rum Dei utcuraque pertinent, absque beneplacito Congregationis
Sacris Kitibus tuendis praepositae pubJicari nequeunt.

33. Idem dicendum de Collectionibus Decretorum singularum
Romanarum Congregationum : hae nimirum Collectiones edi
nequeant, nisi obtenta prius licentia, et servatis conditionibus a
moderatoribus uniuscuiusque Congregationis praescriptis.

34. Vicarii et Missionarii Apostolici Decreta sacrae Congrega-
tionis Propagandae Fidei praepositae de libris edendis fideliter
servent.

35. Approbatio librorum, quorum censura praesentium Decre-
torum vi Apostolicae Sedi vel Romanis Congregationibus non
reservatur, pertinet ad Ordinarium loci in quo publici iuris fiunt.

36. Regulares, praeter Episcopi licentiam, meminerint teneri
se, sacri Concilii Tridentini decreto, operis in lucem edendi facul-
tatem a Praelato, cui subiacent, obtinere. Utraque autem con-
cessio in principle vel in fine operis imprimatur.

37. Si Auctor Eomae degens librum non in Urbe sed alibi
imprimere velit, praeter approbationem Cardinalis Urbis Yicarii
et Magistri Sacri Palatii Apostolici, alia non requiritur.

CAPUT II. — De censorum officio in praevio librorum examine.

38. Curent Episcopi, quorum muneris est facultatem libros
imprimendi concedere, ut eis examinandis spectatae pietatis et
doctrinae vii?os adhibeant, de quorum fide et integritate sibi polli-
ceri queant, nihil eos gratiae daturos, nihil odio, sed omni
humano affectu posthabito, Dei dumtaxat gloriam spectaturos et
fidelis populi utilitatem.

39. De variis opinionibus atque sententiis (iuxta Benedicti
XIV praeceptum) animo a praeiudiciis omnibus vacuo, iudican-
dum sibi esse censores sciant. Itaque nationis, familae, scholae,
instituti affectum excutiant, studia partium seponant. Ecclesiae
sanctae dogmata, et communem Catholicorum doctrinam, quae
Conciliorum generalium decretis, Romanorum Pontificum Con-
st! tutionibus, atque Doctorum consensu continentur, unice prae
oculis habeant.

40. Absolute examine, si nihil publication! libri obstare

280 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

videbitur, Ordinarius, in scriptis et omnino gratis, illius publicandi
licentiam, in principle vel in fine operis imprimendam, auctori
concedat.

CAPUT III. — De libris praeviae censurae subiiciendis.

41. Omnes fideles tenentur praeviae censurae ecclesiastiacae
eos saltern subiicere libros qui divinas Scripturas, Sacram Theo-
logiam, Historian! ecclesiasticam, lus Canonicum, Theologiam
naturalem, Ethicen, aliasve huiusmodi religiosas aut morales
disciplinas respiciunt, ac generaliter scripta omnia, in quibus
religionis et rnorum honestati specialiter intersit.

42. Viri e clero seculari ne libros quidem, qui de artibus scien-
tiisque mere naturalibus tractant, inconsultis suis Ordinariis
publicent, ut obsequentis animi erga illos exemplum praebeant.

lidem prohibentur quominus, absque praevia Ordinariorum
venia, diaria vel folia periodica moderanda suscipiant.

CAPUT IV. — De Typographis et Editoribus librorum.

43. Nullus liber censurae ecclesiasticae subiectus excudatur,
nisi in principio nomen et cognomen turn auctoris, turn editoris
praeferat, locum insuper et annum impressionis atque editionis.
Quod si aliquo in casu, \ustas ob causas, nomen auctoris tacen-
dum videatur, id permittendi penes Ordinarium potestas sit.

44. Noverint Typographi et Editores librorum novas eiusdem
operis approbati editiones, novam approbationem exigere, hanc
insuper textui originali tributam, eius in aliud idioma versioni non
suffragari.

45. Libri ab Apostolica Sede damnati, ubique gentium pro-
hibiti censeantur, et in quodcumque vertantur idioma.

46. Quicumque librorum venditores, praecipue qui catholico
nomine gloriantur, libros de obscenis ex professo tractantes
neque vendant, neque commodent, neque retineant : ceteros pro-
hibitos venales non habeant, nisi a Sacra Indicis Congregatione
veniam per Ordinarium impetraverint, nee cuiquam vendant nisi
prudenter existimare possint, ab emptore legitime peti.

CAPUT V. — De poem's in Decretorum Generalium trans-
gressores statutis.

47. Omnes et singuli scienter legentes, sine auctoritat*3 Sedis
Apostolicae, libros apostatarum et haereticorurn haeresim pro-
pugnantes, nee non libros cuiusvis auctoris per Apostolicas

DOCUMENTS 281

Literas nominatim prohibitos, eosdemque libros retinentes,
irnprimentes et quomodolibet defendentes, excommunicationem
ipso facto incurrunt, Eomano Pontifici special! modo reservatam.

48. Qui sine Ordinarii approbatione Sacrarum Scripturarum,
libros, vel earundem adnotationes vel commentaries imprimunt,
aut imprimi faciunt, incidunt ipso facto in excommunicationem
nemini reservatam.

49. Qui vero cetera transgressi fuerint, quae his Decretis
Generalibus praecipiuntur, pro diversa reatus gravitate serio ab
Episcopo moneantur ; et, si opportunum videbitur, canonicis
etiam poenis coerceantur.

Praesentes vero litteras et quaecumque in ipsis habentur nullo
unquam tempore de subreptionis aut obreptionis sive inten-
tionis Nostrae vitio aliove quovis defectu notari vel impugnari
posse ; sed semper validas et in suo robore fore et esse, atque ab
omnibus cuiusvis gradus et praeeminentiae inviolabiliter in
iudicio et extra observari debere, decernimus : irritum quoque
et inane si secus super his a quoquam, quavis auctoritate vel
praetextu, scienter vel ignoranter contigerit attentari de-
clarantes, contrariis non obstantibus quibuscumque.

Volumus autem ut harum litterarum exemplis, etiam im-
pressis, manu tamen Notarii subscriptis et per constitutum in
ecclesiastica dignitate virum sigillo munitis, eadem habeatur fides
quae Nostrae voluntatis signification! his praesentibus ostensis
haberetur.

Nulli ergo hominum liceat hanc paginam Nostrae constitu-
tionis, ordinationis, limitationis, derogationis, voluntatis infrin-
gere, vel ei ausu temerario contraire. — Si quis autem hoc
attentare praesumpserit, indignationem omnipotentis Dei et
beatorum Petri et Pauli apostolorum eius se noverit incursurum.

Datum Komae apud Sanctum Petrum anno Incarnationis
Dominicae millesimo octingentesimo nonagesiino sexto, vin. Kal.
Februarias, Pontificatus Nostri decimo nono.1

A. CABD. MACCHI,

A. PANICI, Subdatarius.

VISA — De Curia I. De Aquila e Vicecomitibus Reg. in Secret,

JBrevium.
L. % Plumbi. I. Cugnonius.

1 In hisce documentis, data oomputatur, non a die prima Januarii, sed a
die Incarationis idest a die 25 Martii. Uude praesens Constitutio fuit promul-
gata die 24 Januarii. 1897.

282 ]

NOTICES OF BOOKS

GRANIA WAILE. A West Connaught Sketch of the
Sixteenth Century. By Fulmar Petrel.

EAKELY have we read a more entertaining book than Grania
Waile. The sympathy of the author with his subject, the
stirring events he narrates, the varied scenes he describes, and
above all the intense interest that must ever attach to the heroine
of the story, make this volume one of the most pleasing sketches
that can fall into the hands of an Irish reader. But is the book a
history or only a tale ? It is both in one ; and the narrative is
written with such spirit as to carry us on captive from page to
page with much indifference as to whether the story is perfect
in every detail of construction or not.

Several characters stand out with more or less boldness from
the author's pages. But from the first page to the last the
portrait is one of Grania. So it should be. The side figures of
action ought to be the side figures of history ; and the O'Malleys,
Bourkes, and O'Flaherties, all own the sway of Grania at
this period. As coming in from sea, the mariner nears the myriad
low-lying islands of Clew Bay and looks back on Knockmore in
Innish Clare, rising high over the main in graceful strength ;
he has in sight no inapt type of the heroic maiden whom Fulmar
Petrel has so well portrayed.

The story opens with the appearance of a poor widow within
the castle bawn on Clare Island, bewailing the loss of her lambs
that had been carried away by eagles.

' On the castle steps were two young girls to whom the tale
was told and to whom the poor widow looked for pity if not for
help. They were eager to learn all details, more particularly the
elder of the two. She was tall and well knit ; her dark eyes,
almost shrouded by the raven locks which fell in a heap on her
shoulder, sparkled at this moment with indignation, and one
might b%e at a loss to interpret their full meaning, were it not for
those expressive lips, where sympathy and determination were
strongly combined. Her face was of that type of beauty which
was sure to awaken intense interest because of the soul which
every feature expressed. At this time she must have seen

NOTICES OF BOOKS 283

eighteen summers ; and the flaxen-haired girl, who with tears in
her eyes listened to the tale of woe, and clung to her cousin for
support, was about four years younger.

The elder maiden was Grace, daughter of Owen O'Malley,
Chieftain of the Owles and Lord of the Isles of Aran, called also
Dhudharra, or the "Black Oak." This Clare Island was an
outpost of his territory. The younger girl was Eileen, Grace's
foster-sister, daughter of Eobert O'Malley, who was the chief of
the island.

Although her home was on the mainland, Grace, as was
customary in those days, was placed out with foster-parents ;
and, as the times were troubled, her father had selected the house-
hold of her kinsman, living on this remote island, as a home for
his only girl. Here, while sharing the pursuits of the islanders,
she learned the use of the sail and the oar ; and while listening
to tales of wild adventure on the wide, restless ocean, she
acquired a deep love for all things pertaining to the sea.'

Grace's descent on the eagle's nest, and the conflict of the
brave girl with its fierce tenants, are described with great power.
Aa she ascends Knockmore for this hazardous trip, which no
man would undertake, she rests for a little with her young
cousin, and faces eastwards to watch the glow of the sunrise.

' Clew Bay lay beneath them ; the islands at its head
shrouded in grey mist, above which the sky blazed in saffron-
coloured light. Higher up a number of golden cloudlets floated
out of the mists, as it were, and against the glory of the dawn
the dark conical peak of Croagh Patrick stood up clear and
sharply cut. Away further to the south, Mulrea, the highest
peak in Connaught, had caught the golden tint of the dawn, as
had Slievemore and the other peaks of Achill to the northward.
As the girls watched, the sun rose, and transformed the steel-
blue waters of the bay into a floor of shining gold ... A new
day had commenced — a day to be remembered by Grace through
a long, eventful life.'

. The ' tyrant brood ' was slain, and Grace returned from
fosterage in Clare Island to Kilmena Castle, with a well-marked
temple scar which the mother eagle had imprinted in the first
great conflict of the girl's life. Already she could trim a sail, or
handle an oar, or grasp the helm. But that passionate love of
the sea that afterwards helped so much to build her power on the
waves had yet to grow. The possessions of her sept, its tradi-
tions and occupations, and her political career, as years went on,
turned familiarly with the great ocean in ardent life-lasting

284 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

fellowship. The scene on shore as she landed from Clare Island
was worthy of Clan Umalia.

'Close to where they landed, the shore presented a busy
scene. A fine vessel had been built from planks obtained from a
captured cargo, and timbers sawn from oak-trees, felled on the
slopes of Croagh Patrick. Her fine lines and clean run, showed
that speed had been aimed at, v^hile her top-sides, bulging out at
water-line, then falling in, and rising high fore and aft, into a
forecastle and poop, gave her safety in rough water, and clear
room to work the guns for which her bulwarks were pierced.
Men were at work tarring her sides, and carpenters were
preparing her spars ; while further on along the beach, two
smaller boats were being built for fishing purposes.'

The command of the Western seas, which the O'Malleys held,
gives them a place of unique interest in the history of Irish clans.
They were, indeed, a sea-power of no small strength. From
Cape Clear to the Scotch islands they carried freight and fought
battles. And if they sometimes pillaged from the sea, in
Desmond or Tyrconnell, it was a time when Tyrconnell and
Desmond practised raids from a basis of operations on land,
that can be little applauded as the O'Malley incursions.
The war-condition of the country at that period explains such
things as well as the general attitude towards ' prizes ' at sea.
Cargoes belonging to the English enemy were not spared, and in
Grama's time, Umalia was strong enough to make the Western
seas rather uncomfortable for even the battle-ships of Queen
Elizabeth. Grace's first acquaintance with war on the ocean
came when she succeeded in hiding herself in her brother Teige's
ship, as he went to rescue a French vessel consigned to him, that
had been captured by pirates off Boffin.

' She had often argued to herself on similar lines, but now her
idea had advanced a step, and she came to the conclusion, that
although she was only a woman, she would go too. And she
quickly made her plans. She knew well that if she spoke of her
idea to anyone, she would only be laughed at and hindered.
Undoubtedly, there was danger in the enterprise ; but this only
fired her imagination, and rendered her more anxious to share it.
. . At this moment, Grace came out from her lair, and to the
utter amazement of her brother took her place beside him on
deck. . . " The O'Malleys " was shouted from a man on the bow-
sprit. . . Some of them afterwards said that they would not
have given in, only that they saw standing at the tiller of the
galley, a tall slight girl, clad in dark yellow, which made them
think that O'Malley's own daughter was on board.'

NOTICES OF BOOKS 285

One of the most interesting chapters in the book is the
" launch" of the " Dhudarra," with the important gathering of
the Clans, Celtic and Norman, which it occasioned. On the
eve of that long-expected event Grace discourses thus to peace-
loving Eileen on the words of a Spanish friar : —

'He says, and I quite believe him, that people must fight for
what is right, or our holy religion would be lost, and God would
hate us. And you, and I, and all our people around us would
be hunted from our homes. There are bad people in the
world to be put down, and the English are the worst. All
they have got they have taken by murder and robbery, and
ib is a good thing for anyone to take it from them. Oh ! I
wish I were a man ! '

' The Mendicant' is a capital spy for that period, and the
capture of ' a prize ' in Donegal Bay, near Innish Murray,
involves a sea encounter in which Teige O'Malley receives a
mortal wound.

'Overpowered, as he now most certainly was, the English
captain hauled down his flag, and stepping forward over the
gory deck, craved the lives of his crew from O'Malley. O'Malley,
ghastly pale, his saffron doublet clotted with blood, gives his
word for their safety. They numbered fifteen weather-beaten
men, and three fair-haired youths, while twenty lay dead or
dying about the decks. Five men of the galley's crew were
killed, and O'Malley and several others were badly wounded.'

The friar who assists at the marriage of Eichard Bourke,
nicknamed the Devil's Hook, a kinsman of Mac William Eighter,
Grace's second husband, performed the ceremony from a very
sordid motive. But the tone of the book towards the clergy
is not unfriendly ; and in such times it scandalizes no one to have
it suggested that with much trouble a clergyman could be found
who would risk celebrating a mixed marriage for one who said
he would ' bait the hook. ' Bourke failed in his promise, and
hence his name.

The ' Storm ' and the ' Wreck ' show our author at his best.
' Fulmar Petrel ' is a real stormy petrel. Every creek and
harbour, every rock and bar, that Grania's fleet ever touched,
are as familiar to him as the highways by our houses are to the
rest of us ; and no matter how the wind shifts, or on what coast
the storm blows, he knows how to set his sails, and hold the
helm to best advantage. Does he think Grace O'Malley excelled
him in navigation ?

286 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

After the burial of Teige in storm-swept Erris and her
marriage engagement with Donal O'Flaherty she sails south
for Westport.

'The frowning headland of Achill now loomed up off their
port bow, its dark cliffs rising two thousand feet above the surge
at their base. In their middle height the dark crags were diver-
sified by strips of grass of moist green ; while aloft in the moun-
tain's crown the heather and yellow bog-grasses had caught the
golden glow of the setting sun. The dark sea rolled beneath
with uneasy swell, and as the wind had dropped, the sails of the
vessels flapped heavily against the spars. The night came on,
and the stars shone out, and Grace, peering down into the dark
depths, saw many a creature drift by like a globe of living light ;
and, again, as the night wind, charged with the scent of the
heather, came in puffs from Slievemore, the sails swelled out, and
shoals of fish flashed like sheets of molten fire as they darted
from the bows. She looked up at the huge cliffs towering into
the sky, appearing spectral in the starlight, and that strange love
of the sea stole over her more powerfully than ever. Never
before had it been so overwhelming. One part of her nature
was absorbed by it. To be the Queen of the Sea was a passion
which grew with her life, which moulded her whole history, and
only died with her death. '

Near Clare Island her party had a skirmish with a great
battleship, the 'Antelope,' belonging to another queen, whom
she was to visit in later years. It was only, however, after her
marriage with Donal 0 'Flaherty, of Bunowen, that she got
command of her father's galleys, and became a power on the
coast. The book brings down her story to the death of Donal, a
few years later, at the battle of Kilmury, on Avonmore, in the
arms of victory. At the age of twenty-four she is back again in
Clare Island, a sorrow-stricken widow, with her two infant boys ;
' but her life was like one of those cyclones which strike on o"r
wild western shores, and the tranquillity which she now enjoyed
was but the lull that almost invariably heralds in the full
development of the tempest.'

We hope Fulmar Petrel, true to his name, will not dread the
'tempest.' If he does for the second part of Grania's career
what he has done for the first in this delightful volume the life
of one of the most remarkable of Irish heroines will be rescued
from the caricatures that hostile writers have made current for
three centuries. No doubt the undertaking is more difficult.
From the period of Grace's marriage with Bourke, the

NOTICES OF BOOKS 287

interplay of different motives in her policy and the causes which
led some important operations apparently at least in favour of the
enemies of her cause are not easily explained. But if the author,
making due account of her difficulties, brings to his task the same
keen insight into events, the same warm sympathy with and
genuine appreciation of his subject, that delight the reader of
this volume, we may well hope for a sound interpretation of her
whole life. For one thing, he has already broken the virago mould
in which her figure was cast for us so often by the unfriendly artist.
It would be a fitting coincidence, if by the time her island is
transformed under the auspices of the Congested Districts' Board,
the history of her whole career were presented in its true light.

We think Grania Waile a most interesting story-book for a
parochial library, although it is a pity it does not give us a glimpse
of Grace at her prayers.

AN EX-EECOEDEE.

MISSA SOLEMNIS in Hon. Smi. Cordis Jesu, for mixed
voices and orchestra or organ. By Ig. Mitterer, op. 70.
Innsbruck : Johann Gross.

THE Sacred Heart Society of the Tyrol celebrated last
year the centenary of its foundation, and for this occasion
Mitterer composed a festal Mass for mixed voices and orchestra,
which must be pronounced as one of the most remarkable
church compositions of recent date. The work is thoroughly
modern in character, melodious, and full of sensuous harmony.
Though contrapuntal devices are made use of sparingly, the part-
writing is very fine, as may be expected from a man who masters
counterpoint so well as Mitterer does. But it appears from this
Mass what a danger orchestral accompaniment is for a church
composer. Even Mitterer, who is as orthodox in his other com-
positions as any of the Cecilian composers, here goes to the very
limit of what can be allowed for the Church.

The orchestral writing is for two clarionets, two horns, two
trumpets, trombone, and string quintet, to which a flute and
tympani may be added ad libitum. Though evidently conceived
with orchestral accompaniment, and likely to produce its best
effect with it, the Mass will undoubtedly sound very well also
with an organ accompaniment, which the author has himself
provided, and which is printed separately. Perhaps a good
player might add to this organ accompaniment from the

288 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

orchestral score ; but he should imitate the composer in avoiding
everything that is not congenial to the nature of his instrument.
The organ accompaniment gives also some indications as to the
voice parts, but not enough for conducting. So an organist who
is also conductor should have the ^orchestral score before him —
rather an inconvenience. Both instrumental and voice parts are
printed. The work has not yet been put on the German Cecilian
catalogue. Hence, if to be performed in the diocese of Dublin
it should first get the approval of the Diocesan Commission.

H.B.

•

THREE DAUGHTERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. By Mrs.

Junes Browne. London : Burns & Gates, Ltd.
FROM the perusal of this book we have carried away the
impression that the writer is a lady of exalted piety and refined
sentiment, with considerable powers of composition ; but we have
failed to discover proof or promise of the genius that would
ensure success. No doubt the story is edifying, and we would
be the last to say that it is devoid of merit ; but, if we gauge
the public taste aright, we fear it is not such as will make head-
way in the scramble for patronage. Did it contain more action
and character and less sentiment we should have better hope of
its success.

MIRLI'S KING AND THE MYSTERIOUS SHRIEKS. By Margaret
E. Merriman. London : The Catholic Truth Society.
1896.

THIS is one of the Catholic Truth Society's shilling volumes,
and the two stories it contains are well written and pleasant to
read. Mirli's Ring is a Swiss rustic tale the main incidents of
which, the writer assures us, are literally true, the names only of
persons and places being changed. ' The Mysterious Shrieks,'
the scene of which is laid in an Australian town, leads up to an
interesting solution of strange occurrences that seemed at first
to promise mystery enough for a good ghost story.

P. J. T.

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS

worship of heroes was probably the first
of all idolatries, as it is certainly the most
respectable, seeing that any man has more ia
him that is godlike than all matter, sidereal
and terrestrial. At the same time, man and woman-
worship has run into more insane excesses than any
other, on the principle that the ' best corrupted is the
worst.' The work of making and decorating heroes, once
in the hands of poets, painters, and sculptors, has in
our time fallen into those of the biographer, and it is a
pity that so many seem to have little idea of the difficulties
of their task, which, in fact, are greater than those of ancient
makers of gods and goddesses, who were pretty well unre-
strained in their efforts to give ' local habitations and
names,' to their own ideals. Evidently it is owing to
this want of diffidence on the part of the biographer, that
his efforts are so ofben unrequited, and he is pained and
astonished to find that people who had better opportunities
than himself of knowing his hero, declare that they cannot
recognise the portrait. We have had an instance on a
gigantic scale in Mr. Purcell's Life of Cardinal Manning :
one which will probably be a warning to biographers for
many a long day. Although it would be unjust to place the
biographers of Bishop Doyle on the same level, it is clear
that they have laid themselves open to the accusation
of constructing their hero, and that on lines which
are open to discussion. Both Mr. Fitzpatrick and

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.— APRIL, 1897. T

290 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Mr. MacDonagh l are evidently of opinion that Bishop
Doyle was a great bishop because he was a politician,
whereas my contention is, that he was a great politician
because he was a bishop.

No Christian will object to the proposition that the
standard or ideal of the minister of Christ ought to be
higher than that of the layman ; from which it follows that
to say a Churchman is first a statesman, then a bishop, is to
reduce him to a lower level. Indeed, if we substitute the
word Christian for Catholic, I believe the best and wisest %
"men in this Empire would cordially agree with Lord
Denbigh's political profession when he said, ' First a
Catholic, and then an Englishman.' Such was certainly
the mind of Edmund Burke from youth to old age : in 1757,
when he wrote, ' The first beginnings of civility have been
everywhere made by religion,'2 — and, in 1796, when con-
templating the possibility of the establishment of godless
schools, he declares : — ' Better this island should be sunk to
the bottom of the sea than that (so far as human infirmity
admits) it should not be a country of religion and morals ;' 3
and no one doubts that the religion to which he alluded
was the religion of those who teach ' that their God is
love, the God whom we adore in human form ;' 4 and
that Burke would have cordially agreed with Cardinal
Newman, that ' The men in Europe who now talk
bravely against the Church, owe it to the Church that
they can talk at all ;' and with Lord Macaulay, ' If it
were not for the Christian religion, Europe would now
be made up of beasts of burden and beasts of prey,'
which is very generally confessed to be the case
during all temporary accesses of modern revolutionary
heathenism.

It seems from the following announcement, that

1 Life of Bishop lioyle, Fitzpatrick, New Edition. Dublin, Duffy, 1880,
Bishop Doyle, Michael MacDouagh, London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1896.

2 Abridgment of English History, p. 165.
8 Regicide Peace, p. 347. (Payne's ed.)

* Impeachment of Warren Hastings. Life by P. Burke, p. 216.

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 291

Mr, Fitzpatrick does not hold to this necessary predominance
of Christianity in the politics of Christendom : —

That most intricate questions of ecclesiastical polity are
interwoven with the life of Bishop Doyle, I am aware. But I have
yet to learn that they are beyond the power of a layman to grasp
and unravel. . . . Dr. Doyle's life being .intensely political, it is
the province of a layman rather than of a priest to follow it. ...
I may further add, that, no doubt, in many estimations it will
be deemed desirable that the historian should not be committed
t© the jealousies, or to the circumscribed and technical views
which are apt to grow up in all professions.1

Churchmen will hardly accept these views in this
absolute form, even in the case of professional ecclesiastical
politicians, such as Richelieu and Wolsey, but certainly they
will not hold in. that of Bishop Doyle. What these 'cir-
cumscribed and technical views,' in the ministry of the
Catholic Church may be, I do not pretend to understand; and
I imagine they were not very clear to Mr. Fitzpatrick, for he
certainly gives no evidence that they stood in the way of the
Bishop of Kildare. The narrowness and obstinate adherence
to old prejudices with which he had to contend were in
society, not in the Church, and it was his religion which
raised him above them. When, more than seventy years
ago, a Catholic bishop not only professed, but succeeded in
convincing Protestants of his genuine conviction of their
honour and sincerity, he merely carried into public life the
Catholic doctrine of the security of natural virtue within its
own limits, and its fundamental identity in all men. It is,
indeed, a weak guide and much in want of assistance, and to
give light and support to its uncertain steps is one of the
greatest works of genius in those to whom God has given
the plenitude of natural virtue ; for as The Imitation of
Christ tells us : ' As a man is interiorly, so he judges
exteriorly ;' and the same idea lies in the line : —

Virtue and goodness to the vile are vile.

The man who sees and loves God in everyone is not
necessarily good-humoured, pleasant, and popular ; in fact, it

1 Pref. to first Edition. New Edition, p. xiv.

292 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

is rather the other way, and his indignation will probably be
as fiery as his love. We have seen, how for a time, Bishop
Doyle was the idol and undisputed leader of the people, and
the bold and yet pacific conqueror of their rulers : ' The
approbation of Dr. Doyle,' said 0'Connell,in 1828, 'will bring
to our cause the united voice of Ireland:'1 a few years later and
he was on the way to that comparative oblivion which has so
long rested on his memory. How was it that such a man
sank under the charge of venal adulation of power; an
imputation so fatal to all popular leaders ? If an answer
can be given to this question, it will be a useful lesson in
our own times. To some extent it may have been owing to
that daring indifference to his own reputation which was
seen when be declined to take the trouble of correcting
the report of his answers before the Parliamentary Com-
missions ; but this will not explain how it was that his
former devoted admirers did not come forward in his defence.
The real explanation is to be found in his bold enunciation
of new principles of political conciliation and moderation,
which are only now beginning to work as a bond of union
amongst Christians of all denominations. He was in advance
of his age ; and it was the misfortune rather than the fault
of inferior men that they did not understand him. It was
a strange announcement, in days when a sort of armed
neutrality was the mcst that could be hoped for amongst the
religious bodies of the Empire, to hear a Catholic bishop
declare before the British Parliament : —

I have stated at different times, and I state now, that from
my infancy I never felt a dislike to a man on account of his
religion. I have long had amongst my most early and intimate
friends, and I still have, members of the Established Church, and
other Protestant communities, in whom I confide, and whom I
love as much as I do any people upon the earth ; and if I had to
choose a friend to whom I would confide my life, or my honour,
whether amongst people high in station or low, I should, at
least, amongst those high in station, prefer some of my Protestant
friends to any others in the world. 2

1 Fitzpatrick, ii. 76.
! Fitzpatrick, ii., p. 389.

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 293

His letter on the death of Lord Donoughmore (Hely
Hutchinson) is in the same spirit : —

The good works of your brother were not confined to indivi-
duals, to a city, or to a shire ; they extended to all men ; they
were concentrated upon us — the Catholics of Ireland. We were
the inheritance, and he was the hereditary advocate of a poor and
an oppressed people. He knew the unmerited wrongs we suffered ;
he communed with us in all our disappointments and trials, he ate
with us the bread of affliction, and he made all our grievances his

own.

If ever there was language from the heart it is this, and
it reveals to us how it was that the Bishop of Kildare was
so great a conqueror in the lists of honour and chivalry,
whenever he met ' foemen worthy of his steel.' But, alas !
when it came to practical politics, in which noble principles
are compelled to hover and temporize ; where, as Burke
says ; — ' The major makes a pompous appearance ; but it is
the little minor of circumstances which carries the day,'
Bishop Doyle, like Burke himself, ' too fond of the right to
pursue the expedient,' 2 found that he was alone, and so
far a-head of his own followers, that as they could not
make out what he was doing, they suspected that he
was pursuing some private end of his own ; and then began
that process of sifting, not unlike what goes on at a
canonization, which public characters must pass through
on their way to fame. 3

We will now turn our attention to the only re
difficulties in the Life of Bishop Doyle.

First comes his own confession, that in his youth
at Coimbra, before he had finished his classics, he found
himself in the midst of disciples of d'Alembert, Rousseau,
and Voltaire, and ' prompted to inquire into all things,
and to deliberate whether I should take my station

1 Fitzpairick, vol. i., p. 4C5.

2 Goldsmith, Retaliation.

3 At the canonization of St. Vincent de Paul, Benedict XIV., then Prosper
Lambertini, was Promoter Fidei (Advocatus diaboli), and the ordeal was
terrific. When the buttle was won, the General of the Lazarists said so to the
accuser. ' Ah ! ' said Lambertini, ' I knew your glorious father would come
out all the brighter from the midst of these fires.'

294 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

amongst infidels, or remain attached to Christianity, . . .
but, even then, when all things which could have influence-
on a youthful mind combined to induce me to- shake off the
yoke of Christ, I was arrested by the majesty of religion.' He
goes on to say that he carefully studied, and passed in review
before his mind all the religions of antiquity, from Moses to<
Numa and Plato, the religions of the East, the Koran,
Jewish history, and that of Christ, His disciples, and the
Church, and concludes : — ' I did not hesitate to continue
attached to the religion of our Redeemer as alone worthy of
God; and, being a Christian, I could not fail to be a
Catholic.' 1

The whole letter is well worthy of study, and certainly
gives the impression that his trial of faith was altogether from
without. There is nothing in it, or in his subsequent writings,,
to show that the New Philosophy itself made the least
impression on his mind. His own view that the fault which
he confesses was that of recklessly aiming at impartiality :
making his mind, so to speak, a tabula rasa — is confirmed by
his own words in the same letter when he says, ' Since I
became a man, and was enabled to think like a man, I have
not ceased to give thanks to the Father of Mercies, who did
not deliver me over to the pride and presumption of my own
heart.' It is clear, therefore, that he did not think that he
had been cast off by God; and that he merely accuses himself
of want of reverence for divine truth : as, late in life, speaking
of his constitutional absence of fear, he said that he had not
fear enough even of his God.

If it is said that it is unnecessary to defend this youthful
' thinker,' when so many old heads were turned, I answer,
that there are two reasons for doing so : one intellectual, the
other moral. To be deluded, even for a day, by those
whom Burke calls ' the jays and magpies of philosophy,'
would be for ever a blot on his intellectual character. It is-
plain from the line of his investigations, that it was not to the
consideration of the impudent sophistry of the Philosophes
that he directed his attention, but rather to that world-wide

1 Letters to a Friend in England, p. 55.

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 295

revolt against God and Revelation which had culminated in
the French Revolution, which Carlyle calls the last act of
Protestantism ; while if we accept Fitzpatrick's language
about his 'tottering conviction,'1 and MacDonagh's, that
'he caught the contagion, 'f the idea is likely to be fostered
that Bishop Doyle belonged to what is called the * liberal '
school of theologians.

This charge is one from which the modern political
churchman can hardly escape. Liberality is man's noblest
quality ; but, at the same time, it is the one which most
requires guidance, lest in his ardour man becomes liberal with
things which are not his own. Now religion is certainly one
of those, and the two most serious difficulties in the life of
Bishop Doyle — his project for the union of Christians, and
his views on mixed education must now be faced.

I confess that I cannot get a clear idea of his plan of
union ; and, what is more, it does not seem that it was clear
to himself. In his letter to Mr. Robinson,8 in 1824, thrown
off in great haste, he says : —

It may not become so humble an individual as I am to hint
even at a plan of effecting so great a purpose as the union of
Catholics and Protestants in one great family of Christians ; but
as the difficulty does not appear to me at all proportioned to the
magnitude of the object to be attained, I would presume to state,
that if Protestant and Catholic divines of learning and concilia-
tory character were summoned by the Crown to ascertain the
points of agreement and difference between the Churches, and
that the result of their conference was made the basis of a project
to ba treated on between the heads of the Church of Home and
of England, the result might be more favourable than at present
would be anticipated.

Again, at a meeting of a mixed deputation of Catholics
and Protestants,

It was observed that some Catholics were exceedingly anxious
lest he contemplated a compromise of their faith in his project
of union ; heVe the Bishop smiled, and said, '• I am too good a
Papist to compromise anything ; and if I sought to do so, there

1 Life, i., p. 23.

-Bishop Doyle, p, 23.

3 Chancellor of the Exchequer, afterwards Lord Ripon.

296 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

is not an old woman, or a young child in the diocese who would
not see my error, and abandon it. No good can ever be affected
by compromise, and the nature of truth is to be unchangeable, and
not to ally itself with error.' x

Frorn the last sentence it is clear that his idea was that
Catholics were to remain as they were, having all they
wanted, and that large-minded Protestant statesmen, under
the sanction of the Crown, might frame some sort of Bill
for general agreement, which might be useful and agreeable
to Protestants, and do no harm to Catholics ; for he declared
that he believed the English people at that time would
change their religion as easily as in the time of Queen Mary.
Twenty years later, when the eloquence of Newman and
the poetry of Keble had invested Protestantism with vitality
and dignity, which it never possessed before, or can hope
for again, this idea would, probably, never have entered his
mind; but certainly it had some show of plausibility in days
when the English king was in the full enjoyment of his
authority, as head and centre of the English Church : the
clergy represented by men like Dr. Routh at Oxford, and
Sidney Smith in London, while the apathy of the bishops
was only exceeded by the ignorance of their flocks.

The third and last difficulty we have to meet in the life
of Bishop Doyle are his views regarding mixed education ;
and certainly, when seen in the light of the experience of
the last seventy years, they are a reproach to his judgment,
and a proof that he was not wiser than his generation in
everything. He had been educated at a mixed school
himself at a time when Protestantism had practical!)' no
existence in Ireland, save that which politics gave it; 2 and he
seems to have had no experience of that heresy in league
with infidel and immoral principles which now prevails even
amongst the humblest classes, and to have carried with him
through life that good-humoured contempt for Protestantism
which is traditional in Ireland, and as there were few more
fiery or uncompromising assailants of Protestantism when

1 FKzpatrick, i., pp. 331, 344.

2 'A good Irkh Protestant,' said O* Council, 'is a man who hates the Papists,
and never goes to church.'

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 297

it took the shape of 'Bible Societies' or the 'New Keformation,'
it is impossible to reconcile his approval of mixed schools on
any other supposition than his belief that Catholic children
would get the best of it in the contest.

Mr. Fitzpatrick's indifference to order, dates, and
references makes it hard to follow the sequence of Bishop
Doyle's ideas on this subject. In Vol. I., we have
some very confused paragraphs about Bishop Doyle's
possible concurrence with Cardinal Wiseman and Arch-
bishops Murray and Crolly, on the question of the
'amended statutes' of the Queen's Colleges in 1845, for
which we sorely want references ; then the writer
quotes Bishop Doyle as follows : — ' I do not know any
measure which would prepare the way for a better feeling in
Ireland than uniting children at an early age, and bringing
them up in the same school, leading them to commune
with one another, and to form those little intimacies and
friendships which often subsist through life ;' but in a note
Fitzpatrick gives an extract (Dec., 1831) containing the
bold declaration that ' should bad men attempt to corrupt
the education of youth, we are no dumb dogs who know
not how to bark ; we can guard our flocks, and do so easily,
by the simple process of excluding the Commissioners and
their books and agents from the schools.' In 1824 he
writes : —

In a mixed community such as ours, where mutual harmony
and good-will are to be promoted, and children of different creeds
to be educated together, let intruders of no denned creed, whose
only religion seems to consist of anti-Catholic zeal, and a senseless
enthusiasm about Bible-reading — let such intruders be excluded ;
and let men of fixed and known principles, eminent for their
knowledge and moderation, as well as their love of order and
attachment to the State ; let such persons be commissioned to
dispense the public bounty in a -way calculated to promote a well-
ordered system of education ; a system which not only will not
interfere with the religious opinions of any, but which will secure,
the religious instruction of all?

The folio wing 'shows that the spirit of compromise was

1 Letters to a Friend in England, vi., p. 139. The Italics of this very
utopian sentence are the Bishop's o-wn.

298 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

as alien to his mind in the matter of Christian education
in that of the union of the Churches : —

Were we combined for the destruction of the faith of Christ,
and unable to effect our purpose by argument and opposition,
what means could we resort to more efficacious than to exclude it
from our schools — to prevent the tender child to lisp his prayer,
and recite his Creed, and learn the commands of his God from
that master or mistress who is to him a parent and a model, and
instructor in all things else he has to learn — to let his passions
grow and shoot and bloom, and choke the little bud of virtue
which has been scarcely planted, and still requires to be watered
in his heart — to cause him to hear the voice of God, inviting him
to come and seek for wisdom, and partake of refreshment for his
wearied soul — to cause him to hear this voice for the first time
amidst the tumult of his passions, the noise of the world, and the
seductive allurements of a seductive pleasure. Have pity on our
youth, 0 God, have pity on them. . . . Let us keep the fountain
clear which His Blood has sealed, and not expose our holy
religion to the danger of being polluted at its very source. Let
us not suffer to go loose upon society the mere animal man, who,
destitute of education, is like a savage ; nor again, give him
instruction that, as a fox tutored in low cunning, wiles, and
craft, he may steal upon our simplicity, trade upon our piety, or
filch from us our property or good name.1

If it is impossible to reconcile the ideas in these extracts,
it is easy to see that it is in the last that the master
spirit of his soul shines out. We could not have clearer
evidence of the proposition with which I started, that
Bishop Doyle was made by his faith. Without its unchanging
infallible guidance, he would have been a visionary and an
enthusiast ; the victim of that simplicity which is inherent
in the highest forms of speculative genius. Such minds are
too great for vulgar life. It is only in the Catholic Church
that they can find their sphere, and become practical.
There is no sign that Bishop Doyle ever met his match
amongst men, much less his master. All his life he went
his own way, and the wonder is that he made so few
mistakes. Moreover, his mistakes are one secret of his
attractiveness. He was Irish in every sense of the word,

1 Fitzpatrick, i., p. 324.

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 299

with all the glories and all the imperfections attached to
the name.

It is agreed [says Bishop Milner] amongst intelligent and
liberal observers, that the Irish are both remarkably quick and
remarkably clear in their conceptions, and that they acquire
sciences and arts in less time than the English do. But they
are probably behind-hand with our countrymen in intense
application, to gain a perfect mastery of the science or art which
is to be attained, and in that depth of judgment which is, perhaps,
their characteristic. For, next to the omnipotent decrees of
Providence, it is depth of judgment which regulates the destiny
of the world.1

Of his countrymen, Bishop Doyle himself writes : — -

The Irish are, morally speaking, not only religious, like
other nations, bnt entirely devoted to religion . . . they are
more sanguine than the English, less mercurial than the French ;
they seem to be compounded of both these nations, and more
suited than either to seek after, and indulge in, spiritual
affections.2

Bishop Milner was one of Ireland's truest and wisest
friends, and his advice, as well as his reflections, will be
always valuable. "Writing to a friend in Waterford, nearly
ninety years ago, he says : —

Circumstances, then, my dear sir, have certainly been irritat-
ing ; the times are critical and eventful ; but, for heaven's sake,
keep yourselves cool. A great part of your past miseries have
been owing to the intemperate warmth of some of your country-
men. Be patient ; for it is unquestionably better to ' bear the
ills we have than fly to others we know not of . . . If I had the
voice of thunder, I would cry throughout your island, at this
moment in particular : ' Irishmen, be cool ; command your
temper. Your evils are working their own cure ; they cannot
last but for a little time longer.'3

The Bishop of Kildare was not always cool ; neither had he
always command over his fiery and loving heart. It may
be said that he was cool in great battles, and impatient at
little obstacles in times of peace. Certainly, compared with
Bishop Milner, on the question of mixed education, he was

1 An Inquiry, Letters from Ireland, p. 41. Keating, London. 1808,

2 Letters to a Friend in England, p, 58,

3 An Inquiry, Letters from Ireland, p. 242.

300 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

an illustration of what the latter calls Irish inferiority of
judgment. In the work quoted Bishop Milner writes : —

To speak the plain truth, then : We wish our youth in general
to be educated apart, precisely for the opposite reason to that
which makes you wish them to be educated at the universities.
You desire them to be sent there in hopes that by associating
with other youths, whom you call more liberal, we more lax , they
may lose their religion. We wish to keep them at a distance
from such society, for fear of the same consequence. We have
proof, indeed, that this consequence does not always follow ; but
we have also proof that it frequently does follow. In fact, the
Catholic religion being more strict and rigorous, both as to belief
and practice, than that of the Establishment, it is, of course,
ridiculed by members of the latter as being superstitious. Now,
the imputation of this blind and grovelling vice is what few young
men of spirit can submit to ; hence they are under a continual
temptation, when intimately and continually mixed with Protes-
tant companions, of deserting their faith. 1

Although a patient study of the life and writings of
Bishop Doyle reveals that his whole spirit was opposed to
compromise in religious matters, it is very likely that his
trumpet's uncertain sound has had an evil effect on many
minds during the long contest which has gone on in Ireland
regarding mixed education. The mistakes of great men are
our best warnings, when we discern the fallacies from
whence they spring. Experience, bought at a great price, has
now taught Catholics the principles enunciated by Cardinal
Newman, and illustrated with all the fertility of his genius,
that education, in its true sense, as the development and
formation of mind and character is never safe or successful
save under the rule of religion. No one has stated this
more forcibly than Bishop Doyle when he writes : —

In every state, whether Christian or Pagan, the instruction of
youth has been confided to the minister of religion ; for those who
are esteemed capable of preaching truth and morality to the com-
munity at large, must be deemed most fit to regulate the education
of children ; he to whom the father looks as an instructor for
himself, must, in his opinion, be the very person to whom he would
commit the care of his child.2

1 Ib., p. 25.

2 Letters to a Friend in England, vi., p. 132.

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 301

Bishop Doyle had political and social pacification on
the brain. He saw that without peace between honest
and sensible men of the three nations in Ireland, as they
have bseii called, Catholic, Established Protestant, and Pres-
byterian, this harmony was impossible, and to this strong
passion of his soul we must attribute his uncertain, contra-
dictory utterances on the subject of mixed education. "We
may add, that as in youth he was himself an instance of what
he styles the influence of ' the genius of the place,' and the
example of companions; the fact that this made so little
impression on him, must be attributed to that fault which he
recognised in his own disposition, in its excess of ' security
which is mortal's chiefest enemy.' As long as the young are
learning sub tutoribus et actoribus, whether at school or the
university, their minds, as a rule, if they are to learn anything,
must be in the position of passive recipients ; and as to the
formation of those friendships between members of different
religions, so important in mixed societies, to which Bishop
Doyle refers, they can be deferred to the time when education,
and its controlling influences are at an end, and they go
forth equipped for the battle of life, and capable of making
wise decisions.

One point which is misleading remains to be noticed in
the biographies before us. Both writers are enthusiastic
admirers of their hero, but their ardour has led them too far
when they paint him as a reformer of the Irish clergy, for
the simple reason that in his time, as a body the clergy were
not in need of reform. Fitzpatrick's Life of Bishop Doyle is,
perhaps, the best Irish Church history of the first years of
this century, which, if they were not so near us, would be
counted the most glorious period of her national life since
the ninth century, when the heathen began his work of
destruction, which other heathens have continued. To say
that this history is the best, is however, moderate praise,
seeing that so little has been done by others, It is a serious
matter therefore when Messrs. Fitzpatrick and MacDonagh
set to work to depict the life, manners, and policy of the
bishops and clergy of this momentous period, painting their
hero as if he was a being different in kind from the rest of the

302 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

clergy. He was a vigorous administrator, and a great
missionary bishop, ruling about one twenty-fourth part of the
Catholics of Ireland in a country diocese ; but there were
bishops equally vigorous and devoted before his time, and
during his time. They who are familiar with the lives of
Bishop Hussey, of Waterford ; Bishop Murphy, of Cork,
or Bishop Egan, of Kerry, are naturally indignant at the
caricatures these writers give us, as unreal as they are
ludicrous, of aged prelates 'grasping a crozier with enfeebled
hand,' while their priests were farming or hunting.1

It is to be hoped that the resurrection of Bishop Doyle
foreshadowed by his appearance in the ' New Irish Library,'
although in so one-sided and inadequate a form, will stir up
some competent writer to give us his real life, or at least to
balance it by the lives of some of his contemporaries. It is a
task demanding even more prudence and discrimination
than a life of Cardinal Manning. When the Cardinal flung
himself into political life, Gallicanism, with its half-hearted
obedience to the Vicar of Christ, was dead, and the new
era begun, in which the Church goes forth to the conquest
of the world, perfect in all those degrees of subordina-
tion, which in ths moral order reveal ths unity of God.
Things were very different when, four years after the fall of
Napoleon, Bishop Doyle began his political work. To whom
in the past, or in his own time, was he to look for example or
for guidance ? Abroad the old state cf things, when kings
controlled even the sacristies, had for a time returned. In the
British Empire alone, the bishop was as independent as
any other man, and it is Bishop Doyle's great glory to have
been, perhaps, the first bishop in Europe, who without fear,
faced the terrible problems of the Revolution. In his
public career, the praise of Bishop Milner is enough ; that
tie was ' celebrated for the splendour of his talents, and
especially for his political sagacity:' 2 it is as great a mistake
to make him master in everything, as to imply that his
fellow-bishops were masters in nothing ; and if his estimate
of the dominion of the Vicar of Christ was far below that

1 Fitzpa trick, i., 101. MacDonagh, p. 36,
! Life of Milne)', Husenbeth, p. 49'5.

BISHOP DOYLE AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 303

which is now universal in the Church, how many bishops
at the time had ideas much more exalted ?

Eighteen years after Bishop Doyle's death, and still
eighteen before the Vatican Council, were they all prepared
for the teaching of Cardinal Newman in his Irish University
Discourses, when he said : —

Deeply do I feel, ever will I protest, for I can appeal to the
ample testimony of history to bear me out, that, in questions of
right and wrong there is nothing really strong in the world, nothing
decisive and operative, but the voice of him to whom have been
committed the keys of the kingdom, and the oversight of Christ's
flock. That voice is now, as ever it has been, a real authority,
infallible when it teaches, prosperous when it commands, ever
taking the lead wisely and distinctly in its own province, adding
certainty to what is probable, and persuasion to what is certain.
Before it speaks, the most saintly may mistake ; and after it has
spoken the most gifted must obey.1

Had Bishop Doyle reached his sixty-sixth year he would
have met Cardinal Newman in Ireland. Would they have
agreed? Probably we may answer in the affirmative, for
they were both men who loved truth better than themselves,
and better than their own devices, and so they were not
ashamed to change their minds : ' Tempora mutantur et nos
mutamur in illis,' said the former in his youth ; and 'In a
long course of years I have made many mistakes/ said the
latter in his old age.

Of necessity this study is confined to the public life of
Bishop Doyle. It is only indirectly that the splendour of
his fiery love of God and man shines out like that of
St. Charles Borromeo, who said that a good bishop should
court death for his flock. This age of ours has got criticism
on the brain. It costs less than study, and it is intoxicating
equally to reader and critic. Everyone and everything
now, past, present, and future, are summoned to the bar
of the professional critic, and morning and evening verdicts
are given, and sentences passed, to be reversed on the
morrow. This may suit people whose one end and object

1 University Discourses, p. 22. Dublin: Duffy, 1852. Truly styled
'Their Charter,' by the students in 1879 : better call them the Charter of
the intellectual liberties of Christian Ireland.

304 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

is to get over time and life as fast as they can, and who find
that liberty uncontrolled by principle is the easiest road to
this consummation. But serious men, without, as well as
within the Church, are of a different way of thinking; and
they refuse to allow the heroes of their race to be served up
in minced meat for the critical or political table. And a
hero indeed, by nature and grace, was James Kildare and
Leighlin. I have ventured to liken him to St. Charles, who
was consumed by his own fires at the age of forty-six. A
comparison of the closing scenes of their lives will, I think,
bear me out. Both faced the foe until they fell, and both
died as penitents : St. Charles in his cuirass of hair, and
Bishop Doyle, at his own request, received his last Com-
munion on the cold hard bed of the floor of his own room.

W. B. MORRIS.

THE RISE OF MONASTIC LIFE

A.D. 340

ANEW volume on the monastic life l will be suggestive
of some remedies, from a Christian standing-point, of
some problems which are before the world. Those .very
problems, which are the long catalogue of human ills, lay
open to the eyes of Christ when, on the Mount, He spoke
of riches through poverty, domination through meekness,
happiness through grief, repletion through hunger.

Europe, as it now stands, was built up by this divine law
of contraries. Christendom was formed whilst Eome, its
capital, was smouldering ; its stones were barbarians, hewn
and polished into sons of Abraham by monks. This can be
proved only by one deeply versed in heathen knowledge,
which, viewed by itself, means nothing, but taken in its
context is a torch in the hands of faith. The Pax Romana
has about it an incompleteness which vanishes when it is

1 The Monastic Life, from the Fathers of the Desert to Charlemagne,
By T, W. Allies, K.C.S.G. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co.
1895.

THE RISE OF MONASTIC LIFE 305

considered as a figure and type of Christian fulness, the Pax
Christiana. Old Eome gathered up in its mighty hand the
forces of heathen civilization. Affiliation to it was the
only passport to greatness and prosperity. The city which
held itself aloof was outside the pale of society, an alien, and
for its people there was neither present nor future. Rome
considered herself the one way to power. By me, she said,
and by me alone, shall kings reign. She gathered peoples
and nations to her bosom by assimilation, drawing through-
out her huge empire the mystic boundaries which constituted
the Roman citadel and ager, and conferred the proud rights
of Roman citizen. Yet, in multiplying the likeness, Rome
remained one and indivisible. There were not two Romes ;
the second would have been death to the first. It was the
same with Christian Rome : Constantine called his city
Nova Roma ; but it was not Rome at all. Constantinople
became the city of human ambition, and left Rome, in its
ruins, to spiritual conquests. The very rule of Constantine
altered with his residence, and he began at once to be an
Oriental sovereign.

Monastic life was a contribution of the far East to the
Roman emporium. The life-giving herb had been discovered
in Egyptian solitudes, and it was brought to Rome at a
moment of crisis. After centuries of persecution, the
Christian people for the first time tasted peace, in virtue
of Constantine's edict. The year 314 thus inaugurated a
new state of things. If the Christians had been called
upon to die for their faith, they were now to live for it.
Constantine became sole ruler in 323, and he lost no time in
making his personal influence felt. His first gift to the
Church was the Council of Nicea, which sat in 325*
Equally significant was the act by which he left smoulder-
ing Rome to Peter in the person of Pope St. Sylvester,
and took the seat of Empire with himself to Nova Roma.
Constantinople, the fair city which he founded, soon became
synonymous with decadence ; but during the years of the
expiring Western Empire its power was often matched
against that of Rome. Its see was raised to a patriarchate,
founded on the imperial dignity, and sharing its ephemeral
VOL. i. u

306 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

fortunes. Heresy and disunion shook the throne of
Constantine, for, if his sons succeeded to his inheritance,
they had neither his faith nor his genius.

The Christian fathers at Nicea legislated against heresy,
which in the spiritual order is revolt. They strictly denned
the dogma attacked, and communicated a new impulse
to the mainsprings of life, without which the venerable
assembly would have spoken in vain. At that time the
Egyptian desert was flowering with the prayer and toil of
Paul and Anthony, the hermits. Having studied God in
complete solitude, they revealed the knowledge they had
thus gained, Paul to Anthony, Anthony to numerous
disciples, amongst whom was St. Athanasius. It was
Athanasius who brought the new science to Rome, about
340. Borne knew the higher life of the counsels in isolated
instances, it might be called, unscientifically ; for confessor-
ship had prepared the way for martyrdom. Athanasius
headed the ranks of those whom heresy had tortured.
Arian fury would not have spared his life. In the midst of
hairbreadth escapes he found time to do more than compose
two treatises of rare genius. He wrote the life of Anthony,
the man distinguished ' solely for his piety.' * It was the
book which moved Augustine to conversion, blinded as he
was by sin rather than by Manicheism. Athanasius wished
to perpetuate the lessons of Anthony's life, as best calcu-
lated to cope with the altered state of things, and the
dangers of peace. Through him the seal of Eome was set
upon Monasticism as an institution.

The example of the Egyptian hermits burst forth into the
cenobitic life, and produced some of the great centres which
created perfect monks, even before St. Benedict's day. The
science of the perfect monk may be resumed in one word of
the Spanish saint, Solo Dios basta? Turning their backs
upon cities, they went out to God and solitude ; and it must
be noted that solitude was sometimes a condition of find-
ing God. St. Chrysostom has painted, in his graphic and

1 Aia 8r) p.6vr)v dfoirf^fiava), He pi 'Ai/rowoi), 50 i.

2 Page 120,

THE RISE OF MONASTIC LIFE 307

beautiful language, the corruption of Antioch. The same
was true in various degrees of Borne, Alexandria, and
Carthage— of any centre, in fact, which revelled in Roman
civilization ; that is, had learned its vices. The greatest
men in the Christian hierarchy and literature, therefore,
* embraced the offspring of the desert fathers.' Basil and
Augustine adopted the ' common life ' in their own abodes,
and shaped it according to their respective rules. ' For the
first time it was profitable to temporal interests to become
a Christian.' l The new institution provided against one of
the evils arising from the incipient union of the Church and
the secular power. Courtier bishops, or men too weakly
cast to retain their independence, were replaced by monks
who carried their strong and holy traditions into their
episcopal lives. Lerins, Marmoutier, and B'angor, amongst
others, were training-ground for those admirable pastors
.who showed forth the Christian teaching in their example,
which is a voice ' louder than any trumpet.' 2 Lerins
furnished numerous French churches with ' their most
illustrious bishops.' The great monastery of Marmoutier
was founded by St. Martin of Tours. Bangor, in Wales,
with its nine hundred monks, emulated Irish Bangor.
These men, living for God alone, prepared the future
Christendom, and raised the edifice of political on the basis
of spiritual unity.

Still the glories of Lerins and Marmoutier might have
dimmed, and monastic life have become local and special to
a very chosen few, had not the rule of St. Benedict given
shape and consistency to the whole institution. If it needed
one thing in order to live, it was the stamp of unity.

Benedict was born in 480; consequently his spiritual sons
were in readiness to take possession of Gaul with the Franks
and of Britain with the Saxons. The misery of Europe was
complete. The Western Empire was collapsing, a ruin
amidst ruins, and everywhere Roman society was giving
way to barbarian invasion. The devastating hordes were
opposed by the men of peace, fox pax was the watchword of

1 Page 116. 2 St. Chrysostom.

308 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Benedict. The conversion of Clovis, in 496, and of Ethelbert,
a century later, marked epochs. At the end of the sixth
century the numerous monasteries in Gaul had accepted the
Benedictine rule, which was an admirable blending of
wisdom, human and divine. It subdued without killing the
natural man, and has probably been the finest contribution
to what our modern scientists are pleased to call ' the
survival of the fittest.' Mortification wisely practised meets
hygiene half-way, and when it is combined with labour,
mental or manual, it tends to prolong life to its natural
span. In the titles of their chosen retreats the monks set
on record the well-spring of their joy. Mr. Allies has
ingeniously put them together to tell their own tale : the
' fair place,' the ' good place,' the ' beautiful place,' the
'joyous place,' the 'sweet valley,' the 'good harbour,' the
' sweet rest,' the ' blessed valley,' the ' bird's nest,' the
' sweet fountain,' the ' gate of heaven,' the ' crown of
heaven,' ' God's portion,' ' God's brightness, the 'harbour of
sweetness,' the ' blessed meadow,' the ' rest,' the ' comfort,'
the ' joy,' are some of the most striking.1 The hand was at
work, the heart in heaven in those houses ; and this made them
the abodes of a happiness, which is not generally at home in
this world. Tilling the soil and the finer occupations of the
scriptorium were bricks in the building of Europe ; and, if
Mr. Allies is to be trusted, there were no heartier or more
finished masons than the monks.

The meeting between Pope St. Leo and Attila, the
Scourge of God, recounted in a previous volume,2 was
strangely typical. Unarmed and undefended, the Pope left
a smouldering city to confront the barbarian, and he spoke
to Attila as one ' having authority.' If Attila bent to Leo,
the fierce Totila was no less softened by Benedict. The
process of converting and civilizing the descendants of both
Attila and Totila fell to the monks, for in the designs of
Providence those very barbarians were to reconstitute the
fortunes of Europe.

1 Page 203.

fl The TJirone of the Fisherman built by the Carpenter's Son.

THE RISE OF MONASTIC LIFE 309

The conquests of the Church symbolized in Pope
St. Leo and Benedict were moral, and in striking contrast
to those of old Home. For instance, whilst Eoman legions
were victorious from sea to sea, Roman legislation totally
failed to produce domestic life. The Church founded the
Christian family through a sacrament. ' Until death do us
part ' had been the secret yearning of the Eoman matron,
who wrote uni viro on her tomb. If Christian marriage was
the bulwalk of society, monastic life was the fortification of
the bulwark itself. To those valiant enough to give up all
worldly joys for Christ's sake, it showed forth a new home
as much more blessed than the family home as divine love is
greater and more blessed than human affection.

The conversion of the Saxons by monks is an idyll in
monastic annals. Religion and poetry meet and embrace.
The noblest in the land, not the bruised hearts whom the
world rejected, chose God for their inheritance. Ethelreda,
alone, confutes Protestant prejudice. A queen for twelve
years, a wife only in name, she esteemed herself happy when
at last she was able to turn her back upon the court, and to
exchange her crown for the veil of religion.

These new forces of the Christian faith were fully
required in order to beat off the impetus of Mahommed's
flood. Under Roman legislation it would have swept away
the poor semblances of morality which remained. The false
prophet had no greater opponent in the world than Benedict,
who, a man of peace, furnished other men with the internal
armour and breast-plate of resistance. Mahommed pandered
to every illicit desire of fallen nature, whereas the rule of
Benedict converted man into an angel. ' The harem
fought the monastery," l and the monks in their meekness
were the army who broke the victorious course of the
Crescent. From the beginning of his labours on the
Formation of Christendom, the philosophy of history has
ever been the salient feature of Mr. Allies' writings. He
throws a light on the dullest page of petty struggles or
uninteresting personalities. The dreary story of barbarian

481.

310 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

invasions, sapping at the sources of life and society, acquires
a new significance, for ' from these undisciplined, regardless
raiders the forming of Christian nations began/1 The long
travail of three hundred years was inaugurated by Pope
St. Leo going out to meet Attila, and persuading him by
earnest words not to erase Eome from the face of the
earth.

Those three hundred years of mysterious growth from
Attila to Charlemagne culminated in the definite formation
of Christendom, which is the union of Christian nations
under one head. The successor to the effete Western
Empire was chosen by Pope St. Leo III., the successor not
only to Empire, but the founder of the Christian State,
which was a creation of the Church. The fortunes of Nova
Roma exhibited a State on the heathen lines. Prom the
beginning it was a perfect type of Erastianism, and so it
continued to the end, hostile to the Pope, and seeking every
opportunity of reducing him to the rank of its first subject-
There are instances on record of Popes sent to Nova Roma,
to bide the Emperor's pleasure. Could the Pope's moral
liberty of action have been taken away, the Church would
have become the handmaid of imperial power, national
instead of universal. Such slavery would have been her
funeral knell.

It would certainly seem that there is no longer an ideal
Christian state. The battle-field has changed, and with it,
the forces of Christendom, which now lie in the heart of
the Christian people, scattered over the world. Absolute
monarchy is not the evil — if it be an evil — to be feared, but
absolute democracy, a cruel tyrant when he takes for his device
ni Dieu ni Maitre. Christendom, then, as it now exists, the
union of all the faithful under one head, must produce a
democracy which shall not be all bad. Some ardent spirits
may speak of an ideal democracy, but that is hardly possible.
Humility is at the basis of Christian law, and there is no
humility in democracy.

This volume on the Monastic Life completes the history

LPage 475.

IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 311

of the foundations, or as the author calls it, of the For-
mation.* It traces back to the Christian life and spirit
whatever we may now possess of order and stability, govern-
ment and morality. The thought of Christendom is familiar
enough to most men, yet, in these stirring nineteenth century
days of progress, who stops to consider its builders — Popes
and Monks ?

IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY
I.

story of the Exiles of Erin, in its general outline, has
__ been well told by many brilliant pens. Their footsteps
have been traced with loving care by writers whose hearts
burned with sympathy for the heroism and manifold
sufferings of their dispersed brethren, and the record of this
saddest outcome of our national sorrows has an assured
place in the historical literature of our people. Those who
follow in this work may therefore restrict themselves to the
particular facts they wish to illustrate, assuming as securely
established the great principles which explain the exodus of
Irishmen from their native land, and which interpret, in a
way honourable to our national sentiment, the historic facts
from which this sad necessity arose.

There is an aspect of history in which a nation's sufferings
are a dishonour to its name ; defeat is a stain upon its
standard, and overthrow is a sufficient reason to bring con-
tempt upon its children. The school which holds this view
logically is bound to laugh at the fall of peoples who have
failed in securing power for their race, and have been beaten
in the struggle for existence ; the ' survival of the fittest ' is
taken in this context to mean the victory of those who have
succeeded, no matter what the motive or the means of their
success may have been. But this cannot be a true canon of

1 The Formati n rf Chris 'e.idon, by T. W. Allies.

312 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

history ; it would consecrate all the successful crimes of
which there are so many in the story of the nations, and
against such a view the conscience of the world revolts.
The true criterion of the relative worth of nations, as of men,
must be found in their ideals ; those who serve higher prin-
ciples, no matter what their economic failure, must be
adjudged a higher place than they who have served lower
ones, no matter how great their political success. This is
an extension of the principles which underlie our judgments
of individuals, and must be true of the ens morale resulting
from their aggregation. We do not judge a man by his
stature, and a Napoleon with his diminutive figure was worth
a thousand grenadiers of the guard; our friends and our
heroes are those whose minds were filled with higher prin-
ciples, and whose hearts are consecrated to such service.
Expanded to the proportions of a nation, this would mean
that great armies and clever policy do not constitute its
worth. Such strength may sustain the greatest crimes, and
consequently its true value must be known through the
analysis of the purposes to which it has been devoted.

Such an inquiry favours Irish history; it makes its
sorrows almost joys, and lines all its clouds with sunshine.
It is better die for a truth than live for a falsehood ; it is
better die in exile in the service of God than live at home
chained to false altars built by the enemies of His Church ;
and, when this choice was proposed to our forefathers, they
were given the supreme grace to choose what was the better
of the two, and spurn with sublime contempt what was
infinitely the worse. In this way one sees how the exiles of
Erin, in their deepest distress, were victors in a very true
sense; in their apparent overthrow they preserved their
faith and their honour inviolate, their sufferings being not
the measure of their weakness, but the fire-test of their
heroic devotion and supernatural strength.

These reflections sustained my national pride when I
first met with the annals of the Irish in Brittany. They are
not such as would awaken pleasurable thoughts in the heart
of one whose historic school was that of the late Mr.Froude ;
they are a sad story of broken lives ; homeless outcasts, whose

IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 313

wretchedness seemed a miserable setting for a picture in
which there was so much nobleness and real grandeur. But
all their weakness and poverty is forgotten when we recall
their lives before they had fallen into this sad condition,
and it becomes the source of our pride and pleasure
that we have common name with those who played such a
noble part in the great drama of our national history.

While I have entitled this paper the 'Irish Exiles in
Brittany,' I do not propose to follow their history through
the full extent of this province. The resources at my com-
mand confine me to the diocese where I write, and I shall
be obliged to leave the fuller treatment of my theme to
another time, and probably to other hands. I have found it
no easy task to collect the documents which sustain my
narrative ; indeed, I could not have succeeded had I been
left to my own researches. I have, it must be confessed,
little talent, and scarcely enough of leisure to devote to the
searching of archives and the laborious collation of authori-
ties which is a necessary foundation of solid history, and
could not have undertaken the task of weaving together the
many threads of which the chronicle of our people in Brittany
is composed had I not been helped by other hands. My
thanks are due in a special way to the Very Bev. Canon
Delorme, of Nantes, who has devoted many years to the
collection of facts and documents bearing upon my subject,
and has with great courtesy placed all his laborious work at
my disposal.1 The nature of his labour will not appear at
once from the reading of the results ; this is a necessary
adjunct of historical studies. To verify a date there is often
need of weeks of searching, and the correct form of a name
sometimes entails the writing of half-a-dozen letters. The
ease with which I can use his hardly- won material shows how
much more pleasant it is to spend a fortune than to make it.
I hope this acknowledgment will suffice to mark my sense
of the great kindness of this estimable priest and learned
archaeologist, who already assured on many titles of the honour

1 I wish also to acknowledge, in a very special way, the kind offices of
M. 1'Abbe Delaiioue, Vicar of St. Donatien, Nantes.

314 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

and esteem of his own people, has earned the gratitude of
the Irish race by his devotion to the memory of the exiles
of Erin who in the past made their home in Brittany.

II.

The earliest emigration from Ireland to Brittany,
according to the best authorities,1 took place during the
course of the sixteenth century, and the numbers were
increased towards its close when the storm of religious
persecution raged more fiercely at home. This latter period
synchronized with the terrible excesses of the Elizabethan
period, when flight was the only safety for those who preserved
the ancient faith. The first of those confessors to touch the
coasts of America was the Eight Rev. Adam Magauran,
Bishop of Mayo, who was preconized to that see on
25th July, 1585, in succession to the Right Rev. Patrick
O'Hely, who had been put to death for the faith.2 The new
pastor endeavoured to fill the arduous position to which the
Holy See had called him, and held the field for some short
time. But two years after his creation he was compelled
by the terrible circumstances of the period to relinquish the
work, and his crozier became the staff of the pilgrim. No
more venerable figure could be imagined to lead the sad
procession which was to follow. Venerable from his years
as from his high ecclesiastical position, he so touched the
hearts of the authorities in this good city of Nantes, that they,
in an instrument still to be seen in the Communal archives,3
endeavoured to provide for his more urgent needs. It would
be hard to conceive a more pathetic document than that in
which the public charity of the city is registered ; it gives in
its simple phraseology a touching picture of the broken and
desolate old man, and enables us in some way to realize the
terrible sufferings of those who, in the day of national trial,
preserved the faith to our race. The following is an
authentic copy taken from the Municipal Archives :—

A Beverend Pere en Dieu, Adam Evesque de Majone att
royaume d'Ibernye ou Irlande, six escus sol a lui ordonnes par

^Annalts de. Bre<dgne, 1894, p. 524.

2 Brady : Episcopal Succession, vol. ii.. p. 156.

•s Incentairc des archivs Comm. c. i27, 1586-1589.

IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 315

aulmosne que la ville lui aurait faicte en consideration de sa
pauvrete et de sa vieillesse et de son exil et banissement de son
pays, par la force et la violence des heretiques du dit pays
d'Irlande ou d'Ibernye et de la Royne d'Angleterre qui 1'auroit
chasse, spolie et mis hors de son pays et benefice, et pour lui
donner moyen de s'en retourner a ses affaires.

This is the only mention of Dr. Magauran that I can-
find in the archives of Nantes ; it is certainly honourable to-
him, and does not discredit the hospitality of Brittany. The
alms given to him does not appear to be very generous, even
taking into account the changed values of currency, but it
marks a municipal act of sympathy with his sorrows, his
years, and his sacred cause. In this respect it is significant
of the Catholic spirit of this city, which during its history
has been always noted for its piety and religious zeal.

The venerable exile doubtless met with many other
sympathizers on the banks of the Loire, who enabled him
to realize the wish of the City Fathers, and gave him the
further means needed for his return to his fiock and pastoral
duties. But his subsequent history is clearly outside the
scope of this paper, which professes to deal only with the
Irish exiles in so- far as they had associations with the
province of Brittany.

The seventeenth century brought with its opening days
a renewal of the worst fsatures of persecution to the Irish
people. The executioner was once more active in his
propaganda of the principles of the Reformation, and the
gallows dripped with the blood of the confessors of the faith.
Yet this process could not well reach the great body of the
people ; it was reserved for the leaders of the Church, and
for the more distinguished laymen who bravely held the
faith of their fathers. For the rest a substitute for capital
punishment was found in confiscation of estates for those who
were wealthy, and imprisonment and torture for those who
were not favoured with the goods of fortune. Soon the
prisons were filled with the refractory Celts, who could not be
induced to deny their faith, and the authorities began to
complain of the expense of sustaining enemies of the Queen's
Government. To meet this condition of things it was-

31G THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

enacted that all guilty of professing the Catholic belief, who
did not hold property to a certain amount, should be com-
pelled, three months after their arrest, to either embrace the
Anglican Creed or quit the Kingdom.

It goes without saying what the issue of this decree was ;
the Irish Catholics gave up home and country, and became
outcasts rather than deny what was deeper in their hearts
than even the love of fatherland. In their search of a new
home, numbers of these exiles ctme towards the coasts of
France, and, as a French authority tells us, ' Brittany was
invaded, and taken in assault by an army of mendicants.'
The strangers seem to have justified this description ; they
became, according to a very sober and careful historian, a
source of public danger. They carried things with a high
hand, considering their situation. They overran the country,
and in the villages near the coast forcibly lodged themselves
in the homes of the natives. The result of this action
may be easily foreseen. Brittany forgot its generosity, and
endeavoured to defend itself from what really appears to
have been a species of hostile invasions. Parliament was
appealed to, and it was enacted ' that the public be forbidden
to bring the Irish into Brittany,' and ordered ' that this
decree be published especially in the maritime towns.' The
lower authorities took in hand the enforcement of this law,
and our poor countrymen had evidently a very hard time of
it. Public opinion was aroused, not unnaturally one would
say, against them, and every city took measures to hinder
their coming inside the corporate boundaries. The history
of the Breton Parliament puts their case in words which I
shall cite as they stand, in the hope that their severity may
be, in some sort, veiled by their foreign dress : ' On se rait
a les traquer comme vagabonds.'

In these very extreme circumstances our poor country-
men turned to Nantes in the hope of better treatment. In
this they were emboldened by the fact that some Portuguese
refugees had recently come to this city, and against the
protest of the authorities had been sustained by the royal
power. The King took them under his protection and
safeguard, and the city was compelled to submit to their

1IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 317

presence. If the Irish exiles looked for such good fortune,
they were disappointed in it, and the royal authority put no
stay upon the vigorous measures of the corporation against
them. The city fathers would have nothing of them, as will
be seen by the following ordinance dated May 15, 1605 : —

Pour le regard des Irlandais qui sont a present vagans et en
grand nombre par ceste ville et forsbourgs, lesquels a este
propose de chasser et d'envoier, ladite assembled a advise et
delibere, afin de purger la ville de telle sort de gens et esviter aux
inconvenients de maladie, qu'ils seront chassez et envoyez par
mer en quelque vaisseau ou navire aux despans de la ville, aux
lieux ou il sera advise par le corps de ladite ville. Et pour cet
effet, y sera emploie jusques a la somme de huit a neuf cents livres,
si tant en faut, des deniers de la ville de toute nature.

It would be difficult to fancy a more energetic document
than this ; the strangers were looked upon as a danger to
the public health, and the city desired to be free of them as
if they were an epidemic; they were to be hunted and
deported at the public expense, and thrown finally upon
the first land that would be weak enough to suffer their
presence or good enough to succour their misery. The
determination of the civic authorities is further and practi-
cally shown by the sum voted for this purpose, which points
also to the numbers which the Irish immigration must
have reached at this juncture. Without means or friends
it remained only to the exiles to bow before this storm, and
we find them in a short time disperse through the other
sections of Western France.

Towards the year 1622, the tide of Irish immigration
again set in towards Brittany, and the new-comers became
noted for the same spirit as had brought upon their fore-
runners the anger of the people and the rigour of the law.
The account of their progress through the province reads
like an inroad of a hostile force, and certainly did not become
the position of those who, at most, could but reasonably ask
for asylum from a sympathetic people. The minutes of the
Breton Parliament speak of them in this way : —

Us courent le pais et font degast universel en telle sorte que
lesdits habitants du pais ne pouvant les contenter sont contrainctz
de quieter et abandoner leur maisons, ce qui peut causer, oltre

318 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

la perte du bien, de grandes malladyes : et sobz ce pretexte, les
ennemys du roy pourroient faire des entreprises sur ses places et
serviteurs. '

It is hard to explain this mode of action on the part of
our expatriated countrymen, and certainly no one can
complain that the Bretons took extreme measures to defend
themselves. The result was that the Irish had to leave
the country and seek asylum in other parts. Some few
succeeded in settling in Nantes, as there is on record that
letters of naturalization were obtained for some who
became citizens of this city between 1622 and 1628.2 What
the reason of this better treatment may have been, we have
no evidence to satisfactorily establish. It may be that those
favoured ones were of gentler condition than those others
who make such a sorry figure in the annals of Brittany,
and they, perhaps, gave security by their social standing
and intelligence for the right use of the citizenship they
acquired. From the year 1628 to 1651 there is no record
of a similar privilege having been accorded to persons of
Irish birth or lineage.

Towards the year 1649, an incident occurred which shows
the exiles in a better light and proves the hospitable spirit
with which the City of Nantes was always ready to receive
those who were worthy of its good-will. Some nuns arrived
from Ireland, and took up their residence at Richebourg,
one of its environs. They became at once an object of
interest to the authorities, who, hastened to inform them
that all strangers, of whatever condition, needed the per-
mission of the Corporation to permanently fix their residence
within the city jurisdiction. An inquiry was at once
instituted, and the Commissioners appointed made the
following interesting report to the Corporation on July 17fch
of the above year : —

Ce jour, Messieurs de la Grunerre Kabeau, sous-Maire et
Touraine, procureur syndic, ont fait leur rapport au bureau
comme ils ont, en consequence de leur commission, descendu,
lundi dernier onzieme de Juillet, present mois et an, au logis ou

1 Arch, du Parement : Minutes de grand? chambre, 1622.

2 Archives depart. Nantes.

IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 319

sont logees les religieuses de Richebourg. Auquel logis, ils auroient
veu soeur Marie-Baptiste, Superieure et Catharine de Roches,
agee de environ 14 ans, interprette, par la bouche de laquelle,
ladite Superieure leur auroit dit qu'elles sout huict religieuses de
1'ordre de Sainte Elizabeth, reforme, venues d'Irlande dans un
vaisseau que commandait un nomme le Prince d'un port et havre
de 1'entree de cette riviere de Loire. Estant pressees par les
gens de guerre parlamentaires ennemis de la. religion Catholique,
elles avoit en dessein de passer du lieu ou elles etoient dans un
autre lieu plus seur, ou il y a des religieuses de leur ordre.
Mais elles n'avoient pu, a cause que lesdits gens de guerre
tenoient Ja campagne et occupirent les chernins et passages, et
ainsi avoient este contraintes de se jetter dans le vaisseau dudit
Prince pour eviter la furie dudits ennemis. Elles etoient arrivees
au Croisic ' il y a environ six a sept mois, d'ou elles s'estoient
rendues a la Fosse ; 2 et de la avoient este recues pas la daraoiselle
de Moire, veufve, dans sa maison, en ceste ville de Nantes,
rue de Verdun. Et environ la feste de Pasque estoient venues
demeurer dans la maison de la Brigolliere ou elles sont a present.
Laquelle maison avait este louee pour deux aris qui ont com-
mence a la feste de Noel derniere, par feu Monsieur 1'Archidiacre
a Monsieur Sanguin. Elles out ve9U et vivent encore par les
charites des gens de bien de ceste ville et forsbourgs, ou elles ne
desirent point s'habituer en communaute, ni y demeurer qu'en
attendant qu'il plaise a Dieu leur donner la paix et la liberte de
retourner en leur pays ou elle souhaitent s'en aller sitost qu'elles
sauront qu'il y a seurete. Elles vont ouyr la messe en 1'eglise des
Peres minimes et sont ouyes en confession par un religeux
Recollet de leur pa'is qui est venu avec elles et est a present
demeurant dans une maison du meme forbourg de Richebourg ou
elles sont. Elles ont prins une servante pour achepter ce qui
leur est necessaire pour vivre et ladite Catharine pour leur servir
d'interprette. Ladite Catharine n'a ni pere ni mere et est venue
en ce pa'is depuis les quatre ans derniers du pays d'Irlande d'ou
elles est native et qu'elle a demeurer longtemps a la Fosse avec
sa deffunte mere en la rue des Capucins et que sa dite mere
decebda quinze jours ou environ avant 1'arrivee desdites religeuses.
Qu'il est vrai qu'elles ont fait demander a Monsieur l de Nantes
permission de faire dire la messe dans la maison ou elles sont,
ami de n'estre point obligees de sortir et d' observer en quelque
facon le voeu de closture, qu'elles ont fait ; a quoi mon dit sieur3
de Nantes auroit respondu qu'il y pourvoiroit.

This document under its archaic form and cold legal

1 A town on the estuary of the Loire.

2 A quarter of the city near the river.

3 Monseigneur, the Bishop of Nantes,

320 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

directness tells a story that is very creditable to these poor
religious. It shows them reduced to the last extremity of
want, living on alms begged in a foreign city, and at the
same time living up to the exigencies of their rule and
solicitous for its observance under circumstances in which
even a very rigid theology would have left them a large
measure of liberty. We are not told what was the issue of
this municipal inquiry ; we do not know whether they had
to suffer like their less worthy compatriots the sentence of
banishment, but we may assume from the countenance
given them by the bishop that they remained unmolested
until a favourable turn in affairs enabled them to return to
their native land. In point of fact, Travers, in his history
of Nantes,1 says there is no further mention of their names
in the archives of the city, and subjoins to the account above
given that the religious soon after left Brittany for Ireland.

Towards the close of the seventeenth century a great
and favourable change took place in French sentiment with
respect to the Irish exiles in France. The severity of the
early days of the century was laid aside, and honour and
hospitality were freely and nobly given to the refugees.
Many things contributed to this new policy : the character
of the strangers was far other than that of those who first
felt the weight of persecution and defeat, and, then, perhaps,
the political situation of the time explains a great deal of the
new policy. Of the political sympathy between France and
the Royalists in Ireland we need not speak ; it is an historical
fact which may be assumed in these pages ; but to investigate
the character of the new immigres is part of our purpose in
compiling these notes. They were the victims of the
Cromwellian regime, and counted among their numbers
some of the most distinguished Irishmen of that day.
Bishops, priests, and nobles were obliged to fly from home,
and on their arrival in France they at once in public
estimate rose to the dignity of martyrs to an noble and just
cause, and confessors of the true religion common to both
peoples.

1 Histoire de biantes, iii., p. 341.

IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 321

They had, for the most part, lost all in the battle for life
and liberty, and were suppliants for even the necessaries of
food and clothing. In a manuscript history1 of Nantes we
read of them : —

Beaucoup de ces braves champions de la fidelite et du. malheur
^talent dans le plus grand d&mment. ,Les pretres qui les
accompagnaient furent reduits a vivre d'aumones et de faibles
honoraires dont on retribuait quelques actes de leur ministere.

Reduced to such straits these great sufferers for a lost
cause did not appeal to France in vain ; means were lavished
on them by the generosity of the King and the people, and
these favours were repaid by the loyal service they gave to
their generous patrons. During the Fronde troubles the
King was touched by the fidelity to the throne evinced by
the Irish exiles, and ordered the sum of £1,200 be placed
yearly at the disposal of those who were at Bordeaux alone.8
Parliaments followed the royal example, and some of the
grants to individuals surprise one by their amount ; the
historian Hamard gives an instance of a bishop who was
given annually over 3,000 fr.2 In this way Bretons generously
made amends for the rigorous treatment with which the
earlier Irish exiles had been received in Brittany.

When the Jacobite cause was finally overthrown in
1689 and 1690, France became the rendezvous of all
those who still followed the royal fortunes. James II.
passed through Nantes in 1689, and made some stay in
the Chateau of this city. He was received with more
honours than he deserved ; as the historian of the tioaa
says : ' II fut re9ut au bruit d'artillerie, la millice bour-
geoise etant sous les armes.' His coming had the very
happy result of bringing still more honour and public con-
sequence to his Irish followers, many of whom chose Nantes
and Brittany as their second home. Their descendants are
still to be met in Nantes, and retain a warm love for the

1 Sibliotheque Publique de Nantes.

2 Louis XIV. en fut tellement touche que le 22 Novembre, 1653, 1'accorda
a ceux de Bordeaux la somme de douze cents livres, par chacun an. Histoire
Card, de Sourdis. Ra venal, p. 77.

3 II y eut un eveque qui chaque annee recut jusqu' a trois cents pistoles,
VOL. I. X

322 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

land of their ancestors, which most of them have never seen.
But their names will always remind them of their past
associations with Ireland, and the Dillons and McCarthys
among them will never succeed in obliterating their
Hibernian origin. Many of them have reached high
positions in the Church and army, and their characters
reflect much of the splendid spirit which lifted their fathers
into name and honour in the olden days.

I have gathered these authentic particulars of the Irish
exiles in Nantes during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and venture to think the record will not be
wauting in interest to all vrho cherish the memories of those
who played such a characteristic part in our history. I
hope at some future time to continue the narrative of the
seventeenth century when the interest will be increased by
reason of the personages concerned, and of the very notable
facts associated with their names. This interest is largely,
if not entirely, of an ecclesiastical nature, as might be
conjectured from the causes which made exile a sad necessity
for those much-tried men. They had won name and
reverence at home because of their splendid work in the
sanctuary, and this role they continued to play in the
years they were forced to spend abroad. Many of them
rest in the soil of Brittany, and their graves are unknown
and forgotten, but enough remains of their history to prove
that their lives were not unworthy of the best traditions of
their native country.

A. WALSH, O.S.A.

I

[ 323 ]

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF ' THE
IMITATION OF CHRISTY

IV.

N my last communication I put forward the over-
whelming evidence of contemporary witnesses in
favour of a Kempis as the author of The Imitation. If
space permitted I might have added considerably thereto,
but this seemed needless in view of the personal and
domestic nature of the testimony adduced, which came
largely from those who either knew Thomas himself, or
were intimate with his companions. Before leaving this
subject I may observe that Thomas is the only candidate in
whose favour a single contemporary witness can be produced.
If I stopped here I believe no rational person could
doubt his authorship ; but, for reasons already named, and
to complete the statement of his case, I think it well to
show something of the External Evidence of the various
manuscripts in the same direction, and also the Internal
Evidence which the book itself similarly offers.

II. — External Evidence of Manuscripts
This branch of the controversy covers so wide a field
that it would be impossible to treat it fully in the present
essay, and I must confine myself to little more than an
abstract of the conclusions to which it inevitably leads.
I shall commence with a few observations touching the age
of the manuscripts. This is a matter of necessity, in order
to demolish certain baseless fabrics erected by a Kempis'
adversaries with the design of invalidating his claims.

In the first place, I may state, with what I am satisfied
is incontrovertible certainty, that no manuscript of ' The
Imitation of Christ' has ever been produced of an age
antecedent to the mature manhood of Thomas a Kempis —
that is to say, the first third of the fifteenth century. We
may find many efforts made to discredit this statement, but
not one is in the slightest degree worthy of credence.

324 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

The various manuscripts, numbering four hundred and
twenty, may be classified into those which are dated and
those without date. The earliest dated manuscript, worthy
of confidence, is that from Hattem, near Zwolle, and it
bears the record 1424. Let it be remembered that at this
period a Kernpis was forty-four years of age.

There exists one manuscript bearing the dates 1384 and
1385, to which I must allude at some length, for the purpose
of showing that it is not worthy of the smallest con-
fidence.

The codex in question is named the ' Paulanus ' ; it comes
originally from the Benedictine monastery of Wiblingen,
and now belongs to that of St. Paul, in Carinthia. Oddly
enough it has only recently been brought prominently to
light. Dom Wolfsgruber, in his work on John Gersen,
gives a description of the manuscript and a facsimile of the
two last pages. He writes with praiseworthy caution, and
candidly avows that there are many difficulties connected
with it ! As the foregoing dates, referring to a period when
a Kempis was a child, would, if genuine, manifestly displace
him, I felt convinced that a thorough investigation of this
manuscript should be made, all the more so as I demonstrated
in my essay of 1887 that the account given of it by its
sponsor, Dom Wolfsgruber, of Vienna, is most unsatisfactory.
Accordingly I wrote to Dom Augustine Duda, the Abbot of
St. Paul's, asking permission to examine the codex, and to
photograph such portions as I deemed necessary.

In due course my request was granted, and in the
autumn of 1889, properly equipped, I made the journey —
six days from Dublin — and was most kindly received. It
gives me great pleasure to record here the perfect freedom
I was allowed at St. Paul's, both by the Eeverend Abbot,
and Dom Achatz, the Hofmeister of the monastery, and to
state my conviction of the good faith and love of truth with
which they permitted me to examine and photograph the
manuscript, for whose shortcomings they certainly are in no
way accountable. It came to them from Wiblingen, after
many vicissitudes, for preservation and safe keeping, and
involves them in no responsibility whatever. I have pub-

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATIOF OF CHRIST' 325

lished the result in the Precis Historiques, Brussels, May,

1890, and shall here merely record it in a few words : —
First. The writing of the Paulanus manuscript shows it

to belong to the sixteenth century, about one hundred years

after the death of & Kempis ! —

Secondly. The dates are all clumsy forgeries ! —
Thirdly, exeat the Paulanus manuscript for ever.

Respecting the undated manuscripts it will be necessary
to consider their value in the controversy with some care.
A Kempis' adversaries made vigorous efforts to turn their
uncertain ages into weapons against him, with what result
we shall soon see. I need not, in these days of more perfect
information and knowledge, allude to the wild statements of
enthusiasts like Dom Cajetan and De Gregory, who were
foolhardy enough to attribute the Arona and Avogadro
manuscripts to the thirteenth century. No one hears of sach
eccentricity now without a smile ; but there are still to be
found theorists — like Wolfsgruber, Puyol, Loth, and others —
who would argue that some of 'the undated manuscripts of
The Imitation may belong to the end of the fourteenth or
first years of the fifteenth centuries ; in other words, to a
period when Thomas a Kempis was too young to have been
the author. This theory must be first discounted, and then
weighed against the positive facts which point to him as the
author.

The consideration of the undated manuscripts of The
Imitation brings us at once to the subject of paleography, —
the science of determining the age of an undated manu-
script, from its style, writing, abbreviations, &c. Obviously
if one single manuscript of The Imitation could be definitely
proved to have been written at the end of the fourteenth,
or the very commencement of the fifteenth century, the
claims of Thomas a Kempis should be abandoned at once
and for ever ; but this is exactly what has never been done,
despite all efforts. For centuries his adversaries have searched
the libraries of Europe, but their long-wished-for manu-
script has not been found. Not a single manuscript of
The Imitation which has been put forward by a Kempis'

326 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

adversaries as of date excluding his authorship has stood the
test of paleographic science, or been shown to be earlier
than his middle age. I may here observe that the claims
made for the Italian codices named above, in this connection,
are thus annihilated.

It is a very significant fact that Father Denifle, who, as
subarchivist of the Vatican Library, must have exceptional
knowledge of dated Italian manuscripts of all ages, and
therefore be an excellent judge of those which are not dated,
asserts positively that every single one of the manuscripts
of The Imitation put forward by the Gersenists belongs to
the fifteenth century, and not the earliest portion of it. Let
it be clearly understood and remembered, anent the argu-
ments of those who contend for an imaginary author of the
thirteenth century, that, while the libraries of Europe are
filled with manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, not a solitary codex of The Imitation of Christ has
been examined by this highly skilled expert, Father Denifle,
whish he does not declare to belong to the fifteenth century
and not the commencement of it !

In fine, it may be confidently repeated that not a single
manuscript of ' The Imitation,' dated or undated, can be
shown to be antecedent to a Kempis middle age.

Taking the manuscripts of The Imitation, dated and
undated, as a whole, they offer a very remarkable subject for
study and analysis. In number they amount at present to
about four hundred and twenty, and their derivation and
origin may be roughly stated as follows : — Twenty-five belong
to France, nineteen to Italy, fifteen to England, while the
rest — just three hundred and sixty-one—appertain to
Germany, and especially the lower district of Germany,
including Holland and the Low Countries, which formed part
of Germany at the period when The Imitation appeared.
Further, when we come to examine each manuscript care-
fully, we find that about sixty point to Thomas a Kempis by
indications more or less definite, and the great preponderance
of the whole show contact and amity between Windesheim
and the various monastic institutions from which they
emanate.

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 327

Thns a Kempis' candidature is supported, in the manu-
scripts by an irresistible mass of probability.

This subject, if fully worked out, would need thirty or
forty pages to develope, and this I cannot give at present ;
neither is it necessary, because anyone who choses can read
Father Becker's essay on the subject, which I merely
epitomize. His research, with the pitiless logic of fact,
leaves no room for doubt as to the origin of The Imitation
in the heart of the school of which Thomas was the
recognised exponent, historian, and writer.

Let me revert for a moment here to a Kempis' own manu-
script of 1441, already quoted. The four first essays in that
codex are the four books of The Imitation, followed by nine
other treatises, which have come down to us as his undisputed
works. If, then, we reject Thomas as the author of The
Imitation, we must accept the impossible theory that he
deliberately placed in front of his own compositions four
treatises which he knew were not his ! The idea is too
absurd for consideration.

To conclude this subject of the evidence of the manu-
scripts, I would urge that it bears irresistibly in favour of
a Kempis, and this is most significant when we remember
all the circumstances of the case — his obscurity, the
anonymous appearance of the book, the ignorance of the
world at large as to its origin, and the spirit of indifference
of the Windesheimers as to any claim for its paternity.
Let it be borne in mind, too, that as a Kempis is the only
candidate for whom a single contemporary witness can be
cited, so also he is the sole one in whose favour any manu-
script can be produced which was written either during that
candidate's lifetime or shortly after his death.

III. — Internal Evidence.

When we come to examine The Imitation closely, we
find so many internal evidences which point to Thomas
a Kempis as the author, that the main difficulty lies in
knowing where to commence their description.

In the first place, as regards the style in which the book
is written". It is needless to observe, to those who are

328 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

familiar with Thomas' works, that The Imitation constitutes
less than one-tenth of the whole. Between it and the rest
there is so remarkable a similarity of thought, language, and
idiom, that it seems impossible to doubt that all are the
product of one mind and the work of one hand . This point
has been developed by many early writers upon the subject,
such as Rosweyd, Heser, and Amort ; and later authorities,
especially Malou, Hirsche, Spitzen, and Becker, have taken
great pains to clear it up, and with remarkable success.
The works of the four last-named authors are easily
accessible to all.

To instance the similarity of thbught and choice of sub-
jects Malou gives a list of the parallelisms existing between
TJie Imitation of Christ and the other works of a Kempis,
such as the Sermons to the Novices, The Soliloquy of the Soul,
The Garden of Roses, and Valley of Lilies. Some years ago I
translated a Kempis' Manuale Parvulorum, and in the second
edition gave a table of the similar passages found in it and
in The Imitation. These are but selections from the many
which might be offered. The opponents of a Kempis will
argue that this merely proves his familiarity with The
Imitation; but such a plea cannot stand. If he quoted The
Imitation verbatim, it might be said that he copied from it,
but was not its author. This he never does. He only
develops in his other works the ideas contained in The
Imitation, but in no instance refers to it. The inference is
obvious. Some of a Kempis' adversaries lay stress upon the
supposed inferiority of his other writings as compared with
The Imitation. This argument is partly baseless and wholly
inapplicable. It would appear that many who rely on it
have not studied his compositions attentively. To those
who have done so the conclusion is totally different.
Bosweyd, one of the most erudite scholars of his time, pro-
foundly versed in this subject, gives us his opinion in what
I hold to be an aphorism. He says, 'As a rose has the
perfume of a rose, so also The Imitation of Christ is like to
the other writings of Thomas a Kempis.' Alban Butler, the
author of The Lives of the Saints, unquestionably a very
competent judge, denies the asserted inequality of many of

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 329

the acknowledged works of a Kempis as contrasted with The
Imitation, and specially instances The Three Tabernacles
and the treatise On True Compunction. To these I might
add very many other productions of the holy Canon of
Agnetenberg. Coustou, a skilled expert on this point, is of
the same opinion. So also is Milman. Last, but certainly
not least, I may mention Dr. Carl Hirsche, one of the most
learned judges on this subject of modern days. This author,
the discoverer of the peculiar punctuation adopted by
Thomas both in The Imitation and in his other works, after
an exhaustive investigation of them all, has arrived at the
definite conclusion that he, and he alone, could have been
the author of the great book.

Taking this argument at its fullest value, and admitting
that some of a Kempis' works do not equal The Imitation, I
would ask the question, — Are all authors even in their
various compositions ? Beyond question we must admit
they are not. Few would compare St. Augustine's City
of God, St. Thomas of Aquin's Summa Theologica, or
St. Francis de Sales' Introduction to a Devout Life, with
their other works ; or, to come to an example in our own
language, no one familiar with the works of John Bunyan
would attempt to contrast The Pilgrims Progress with the
rest of his productions. In like manner we admit the
obvious fact that a Kempis' Imitation of Christ is his
masterpiece, embodying not alone his own ascetical know-
ledge, but also the accumulated wisdom of the/ School of
Windesheim,' from which it will be seen he borrowed
largely.

While The Imitation comprises all the spirituality of the
school which Thomas represented, his other works were
written, doubtless often comparatively hastily, for different
audiences, and more as dissertations on the principles incul-
cated in his great chef d'ceuvre. Even so, many of them, I
assert confidently, are quite worthy of the author of The
Imitation of Christ.

We shall next allude to the peculiarities of diction which
we find both in The Imitation of Christ and in a Kempis'
other works. Wonderfully touching and epigrammatic as

330 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

its language undoubtedly is, no one would venture to hold it
up as a model of classical Latinity. On the contrary, it is
so manifestly uncouth that attempts have been made, very
unsuccessfully, to amend the text. Sebastian Castellio's
paraphrase is the most widely known of these efforts. The
peculiarities of the original depend greatly on certain unusual
elements, including a number of barbarisms, Italianized
words, words used in a peculiar sense, and abundant Dutch
idioms.

My object in dwelling upon these topics is to impress
upon my readers the facts : first, that we find certain very
marked singularities in the language of Tke Imitation ;
secondly, that these same traits appear in all the other works
of a Kempis ; and, finally, that from thence we are led to
infer that he was the author.

One characteristic of the language of The Imitation is
the presence of barbarisms. For example, the word alta is
used to signify sublime, tenere in place of aestimare, redient
for redibunt, totum for omne, and so on interminably. Now,
we find the same rare terms, used in the same sense,
throughout a Kempis' other works. To argue that this
parallelism is the result of accident is to adopt an utterly
untenable position.

Again, the author of The Imitation frequently uses
Italianized words, such as regratiari, pensare, querulando,
sentimenta, bassare, &c. An attempt has been made to
utilize this fact as an argument that the author was an
Italian ; but if this be true, Thomas a Kempis must have
been an Italian, because we find all his writings filled with
these words !

We notice the frequent occurrence of the word ' devotus '
in The Imitation and in a Kempis' other works. Despite all
cavil, the peculiar sense in which this word is constantly
used in designating the members of ' The Modern Devotion'
is very characteristic, and significant of the common author-
ship of all the works in question.

I have stated that the language of The Imitation partakes
largely of a Dutch character, both in conception and idiom.
It is needless to observe how important a corroboration this

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 331

offers in favour of Thomas. A German by birth, while still
a boy he came to Holland, where he remained for the rest
of his life. Naturally, he came to speak, think, and write
as a Dutchman. This peculiarity of the Latinity of The
Imitation, while it bears witness in favour of -A Kempis,
especially when coupled with other evidence, is sufficient to
annihilate the claims of Gerson, or of the imaginary Italian
Benedictine author. An erudite Frenchman like Gerson
could not have written Latin full of Dutch idioms, not one
of which is to be found throughout his voluminous writings,
and such a feat would have been equally impossible for an
Italian. This philological aspect of the subject is one which
could not be satisfactorily treated in the present sketch, but
I shall give a few illustrations.

The only language into which The Imitation can be
translated literally is the Dutch. Let us take a few
examples of the Flemish idioms which pervade the book
from cover to cover. If a Dutchman wishes to say that he
knows a book by heart, he says, ' van buiten,' that is, outside.
Now, we find the author of The Imitation turns this phrase
into Latin — barbarous no doubt, but a literal translation —
as follows : — ' Si scires totam Bibliam exterius.' This
expression is untranslatable into French or Italian; — it
must be rendered by a paraphrase. Again, to express in-
difference in good Dutch, one says, to see a thing with an
even countenance, ' Met een gelijk aengezicht.' The author
of The Imitation translates this phrase literally : — ' Ita ut
una aequah facie in gratiarum actione maneas.' This
expression, like the foregoing, cannot be translated into
French or Italian except by a paraphrase. The same idea
of not caring about a thing is expressed in Dutch as
not falling upon it — ' Ik val daer niet op.' Now, we find
the author of The Imitation adopts this precise phrase
in the following barbarous Latin : — ' Verus amator Christi
non cadit super consolationes.' Here, again, his words
are untranslatable into French or Italian. I might pursue
this argument to the extent of filling a volume, but
that is at present out of the question.

This appears to be a suitable time to touch upon the

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

literary structure of The Imitation, and to note the origin
of the book, and the sources from which it is drawn, with a
view to indicate its authorship. A lifelong study has led me
to the knowledge that it is a compilation, and this we know
is the sense in which it is spoken of by Busch and Byd, two
Windesheimers whose evidence I have quoted as knowing
a Kempis personally.

First of all, and above all, the book is saturated through-
out with the Sacred Scripture. No one can read many
sentences in it which do not recall passages in the Old and
the New Testament. It reflects them like a mirror, and
applies them with unmatched deftness to meet the wants
and soul-yearnings of humanity. All this is evident to the
many who know the Bible well. Be the quotations direct
or paraphrastic, there they are at every step.

Echoes of passages and thoughts of the spiritual writers
who preceded it reverberate throughout the wondrous book.
The author draws from St. Augustine, from St. Gregory the
Great ; St. Bernard is evident on every page ; St. Francis
of Assisi appears too ; likewise St. Thomas of Aquin,
St. Bonaventure, and the Roman Missal, He also recalls the
Pagan classics, Aristotle, Ovid, Seneca, and Lucian, and we
find remarkable coincidence between some passages and
Dante.

Still, various as are the sources of The Imitation, it
becomes manifest, on close investigation, that it is mainly
drawn from three fountains.

I shall now allude briefly to these, especially with a view
to indicate the probabilities of a Kempis' authorship.
These three fountains are : —

First, the Holy Scriptures.

Second, the writings of St. Bernard.

Third, the spiritual works of the school of Windesheim.

(1) As regards the Scriptural lore of The Imitation, the
edition which first demonstrated this element, in an extended
fashion, is that attributed to Cardinal Enriquez, and pub-
lished in Rome in 1754 and 1755. Many modern editions
follow on the same lines, amongst which I may refer to
those of Rivington and Parker. This point still needs con-

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 333

siderable expansion. Some years ago I worked at it with
diligence, and with the result that I verified about three
times as many Scriptural allusions as Enriquez.

Let us now see how this Scriptural origin of The
Imitation favours a Kempis as the author. The Bible in
his time, before the invention of printing, was a compara-
tively rare book, yet we find all his works replete with
Scripture " and the praises thereof, and we know that lie
copied out the Old and New Testament in full for the use of
his convent, and was thus of necessity specially familiar
with it. His manuscript still exists. It was long missing,
but I understand, upon the authority of Father Becker, and
Dr. Pohl, Director of the Thomas Gymnasium, at Kempen,
that it has been found in the Library of the Grand Duke of
Darmstadt.

(2) As regards the influence of St. Bernard in the inspi-
ration of The Imitation, I was first led to investigate this
point by finding in Busch's Chronicle record of the fact
that St. Bernard's words were greatly esteemed by the
Windesheimers, especially by Gerard Groot and Florentius
Radewyn ; and further, that Vos Van Huesden and^ the
brothers John and Thomas a Kempis had made copious
extracts from the writings of the great Abbot of Clairvaux.
Thus guided, I studied the works of St. Bernard closely,
with the result that I found in them a singular resemblance
in thought to the ' Imitation.' I have an edition (Mabillon's)
marked to prove this. As an illustration I give in my essay
of 1887 (Appendix C) a chapter of The Imitation, with the
similar passages in St. Bernard. Beyond cavil, this fact
confirms the claims of a Kempis, because we have evidence
of his special familiarity with St. Bernard.

(3) To conclude the subject of the internal evidence we
shall now glance at a very striking and potent argument in
favour of the general belief that Thomas a Kempis was the
author of The Imitation. It is well known that he was the
most prolific and representative writer of the ' School of
Windesheim ; ' and therefore, assuming that he was the
author, we should naturally expect to discover in the book
traces of the teaching of that institution. Now this is

334

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

precisely what we do find. If we place the spiritual works
of the Windesheimers side by side with The Imitation, we
find that the latter reproduces them abundantly, often
-sentence for sentence, and word for word. From this we
•are drawn irresistibly to the conclusion that the author of
The Imitation borrowed copiously from the writings of the
' school of Windesheim.' What could be more natural
than that he, Thomas a Kempis, the leading exponent of
that school, should put forth in his great masterpiece the
doctrines with which he was so familiar ?

The process of tracing the teaching of Windesheim into
The Imitation was long since commenced, and has been
elaborately worked out by Amort, Malou, Santini, Spitzen,
and others, and more especially by Becker. For a full
exposition of this topic I would refer to the works of the
writers named. The limits of this essay allow me to give
but a few illustrations. I shall place sentences from the
Windesheimers side by side with quotations from The
Imitation : —

JOHANNES VAN SCHOONHOVEN.

In primis ergo scire debes,
quod vita nostra in peregrina-
tione hac non potest esse sine
periculo et tentatione, quia, ut
dicit B. Job, militia est vita
kominis super terram.

Pax est in cella, foris autem
non nisi bella.

Nemo secure apparet, nisi
qui libenter latet. Nemo secure
praeest nisi, qui libenter subest.
Nemo secure loquitur, nisi qui
libenter iacet.

Humilitas. ut dicit S. Ber-
nardus, virtus est, in qua quis
in sui verissima cognitione sibi
vilescit.

GERARDUS GKOOT.

Semper debes niti aliquod
boni notare et cogitare de alio.

DE IMITATIONE CHRISTI.

Quamdiu in mundo vivimus
sine tribulatione et tentatione
esse non possumus. Unde in
Job scriptum est : Tentatio est
vita humana super terram.

In cella invenies quod deforis
saepius amittes . . . Mane cum
eo [Jesu] in cella, quia non in-
venies alibi tantam pacem.

Nemo secure apparet, nisi
qui libenter latet. Nemo secure
loquitur, nisi qui libenter tacet.
Nemo secure praeest nisi qui
libenter subest.

Qui bene seipsum cognoscit,
sibi ipsi vilescit.

DE IMITATIONE CHRISTI.

De se ipso nihil tenere, et de
aliis semper bene et alte sentire :

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 335

Quanto plus homo scit se distare
a perfectione tarn prope est per-
fection!.

. . . Item, secundum Ber-
nardum, nullum verbum pro-
feras, de quo multum religiosus
vel scientificus appareas.

Maxima tentatio est non
tentari.

magna sapientia est et alta per-
fectio.

Nunquam ad hoc legas ver-
bum ut doctior aut sapientior
possis videri.

Sunt tamen tentationes ho-
mini saepe valde utiles, . . .
quia in illis homo bumiliatur, et
purgatur, et eruditur.

FLORENTIUS RADEWYN.

Quam benevobis est et quam
secure statis, quod potestis sic
vivere sub obedientia.

Semper sis vigilans circa ten-
tation&m et motus passionum.

DE IMITATIONE CHEISTI.

Multo tutius est stare in sub-
jectione quam in praelatura.

Ideo unusquisque sollicitus
esse deberet circa tentationes
suas.

EPISTOLA DE VITA ET PASSIONE
DOMINI NOSTRI JESU CHEISTI.

( Used as a spiritual handbook by
the Congregation of Winde-
sheim, at the recommendation
of Vos van Huesden.)

Ama nesciri et ab aliis con-
temni opta.

Ante initium operis propone
qualiter te vis habere.

Qui autem student mag is
videri subtiles quam esse humi-
les, et plus quaerunt scire quam
bene vivere, cito extolluntur et
sunt carnales.

. . . quamvis haberet et
sciret omnem Bibliam, et Scrip-
turam, et Legem unquam posi-
tamaut conscriptam,id minime
sufficeret.

Qui in tribulatione sunt et
angustia, noli negligere eis
servire et consolatorius esse.

Audiam quid loquator in me
Dominus.

DE IMITATIONS CHKISTI.

Ama nesciri et pro nihilo re-
putari.

Bonus etdevotushomo opera
sua prius intus disponit quae
foris agere debet.

Quia vero plures magis
student scire quam bene vivere,
ideo saepe errant et pene nul-
lum, vel modicum fructum
ferunt.

Si scires totam Bibliam ex-
terius et omnium philosopho-
rum dicta, quid totum tibi
prodesset ?

Et cum tentato noli duriter
agere, sed consolationem ingere.

Audiam quid loquator in me
Dominus Deus.

336 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

It seems to me that I have already adduced sufficient
evidence in support of the claims of the holy Canon of
Mount St. Agnes to satisfy all reasonable people, and to
justify my contention, and moral certainty, that he was the
author of The Imitation of Christ. However, before pro-
ceeding to discuss the positions of the other two candidates,
John Charlier de Gerson, and the so-called Abbot Gersen
of Vercelli, I shall briefly recapitulate the proofs I have
advanced in favour of a Kempis.

First. We have seen the overwhelming testimony of
the witnesses who knew Thomas personally, and the wide-
spread acknowledgment of his claims during his life, and
immediately after his death, especially by those intimate
with his associates.

Secondly. The external evidence of the manuscripts in
his favour.

Thirdly. The internal evidence of the book itself, its
peculiarities of language, common to it and the rest of
a Kempis' writings ; the literary construction of the book
itself, and its derivation — from Scripture, St. Bernard, and
the writers of Windesheim — with all of which we know he
was specially familiar.

Let me here add, that of all the asserted authors ot
The Imitation the only one in whose favour a particle of
internal evidence can be produced is Thomas a Kempis.

If all these accumulated arguments do not suffice I am
at a loss to know what could do so.

In my next communication I shall discuss the position
of the great Chancellor Gerson in reference to The Imitation
of Christ.

F. E. CRUISE, M.D.

[ 337 ]

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM

PART I. — MATTER

INTRODUCTORY '

fTlHE series of articles which, through the kindness of the
J_ Editor of the I. E. RECORD, will appear under the above
heading, have no pretensions to either originality, complete-
ness, or depth. They are, in fact, little more than gleanings
from a very desultory course of reading. They have grown
out of notes made with a view to some discussions at a
clerical conference. Indulgent friends were kind enough to
say that the notes, if published in some form, would prove
useful, partly as supplying an order of thought on a rather
complex subject, and partly as a handy summary of the
opinions of some of the leading godless philosophers of our
time. The original form of nofes has, on advice, been more
or less retained. This will explain the abrupt and often
scrappy style of the paragraphs in many places. This incon-
secutive style, though not in itself to be commended, may in
the present case lighten the labour of reading, and afford
facilities for reference.

The scope of the articles is limited to one parti-
cular aspect or school of materialism, viz., the so-called
scientific materialism, of which Tyndall, Huxley, Darwin,
and Herbert Spencer in England, and Virchow, Hackel,
Vogt, Du Bois-Reymond, and Weismann on the Conti-
nent, may be regarded as the chief exponents. Though
as philosophers these men cannot be regarded as by any
means profound, yet they have done and are doing more
mischief than much abler thinkers. Just because their
philosophy is of a light — often, if you will, a superficial —
kind, it is more generally read and more easily assimilated.
Therefore they must not be merely despised because they
are superficial, but rather feared because they are popular.
Mill is, no doubt, as a lion in the path for the student ; but

VOL. I. Y

338 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Huxley and Tyndall and Darwin are a greater danger to the
people.

The strength of these men lies in their familiarity with
the natural sciences. They dazzle the ordinary reader with
illustrations, analogies, generalizations, &c., from these
sciences. Their misleading theories are decked out in a
bewildering array of the most beautiful facts of nature.
Their knowledge appears prodigious. The heavens and the
earth seem to them an open book, out of which they read
such marvellous lessons that the bounds of fact and fancy
become confused, and speculation passes for science. Some
of these men too — notably Tyndall and Huxley — have a
remarkable trick of style, which imparts to their philosophy
some of the charm of fiction. Matter and style combine to
form a sort of romance of science. Wonders follow wonders,
linked by glowing sentences, until the common things of
earth are so clothed in mystery and beauty that they almost
begin to seem not quite unworthy to take the place of God.
Traces of this power of word-painting will be met with even
in the short extracts given in these pages.

The ordinary reader, especially if he be young and enthu-
siastic, is liable to be dazzled by all this brilliancy, and to let
pass unchallenged the lop-sided illustration, or defective
analogy, or unwarrantable generalization, by which he is
lured into what seems a strong net of proof, and is really
but a web of words. The glowing periods cover the limping
logic, and sound becomes an excellent substitute for
sense.

Their analogies in particular are always to be suspected.
Their formula for conclusion by analogy would seem to be —
when two things resemble, or appear to resemble each other
in one or two points, they may be at once assumed to be
altogether alike. Thus crystalline force is structural, and
so is vital force ; therefore these are alike in kind, and only
differ in complexity. It would, of course, be equally reason-
able to say that because a hodman hoists bricks, and so does
a steam crane, man and crane are machines identical in
kind, and differing only in complexity. This particular
kind of fallacy, resting on false or defective analogy, is

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 339

perhaps more common than any other in the writings of this
school. It will, therefore, require constant watching.

Our immediate object in these articles necessitates
another limitation of their scope. We do not purpose
stating a counter philosophy. That is sufficiently provided
elsewhere. Here we shall have quite enough to do to dog
the steps of these mischievous writers, taking as far as
possible their own brilliant statements of their theories, and
trying to show how little of solid reason and how much of
contradiction, assumption, distortion of fact, and dishonest
argument lies behind their glittering style. This will
account for the numerous extracts with which the articles
may perhaps seem overloaded. But it is always more satis-
factory, when possible, to have an adversary's views in his
own words. Indeed some of the views of these scientific
philosophers are so extraordinary that nothing less than
their own very words would make them seem credible
utterances of sane men. The extracts have been selected
with a good deal of care, and though short, they will, it is
hoped, be found to give in each case the essence of the
writer's view on the particular point under discussion.

The works, essays, articles, &c-, from which the quota-
tions are taken should be read by those who desire to make
themselves familiar with the subject. It will be seen that
they are not numerous. In Tyndall's case most of them are
embodied in the second volume of his Fragments of Science.
Dr. Elam's Winds of Doctrine (only 160 pp.) is excellent.
Another small volume — Biology and Transcendentalism, by
the Rev. Joseph Cook, a Boston minister — supplies a lot of
information all round the subject. Modern Ideas of Evolu-
tion is a good and safe book to put into the hands of general
readers. Father Gerard's Science and Scientists (Catholic
Truth Society) will admirably suit for the same purpose.

It need hardly be said that this subject, and especially
this aspect of it, has strong claims on the attention of the
clergy. Its mischievous literature is being carried by the
periodical press into every town and village where there is
a reading-room or railway book-stall. Everyone who reads
anything more serious than a newspaper or a novel is liable

340 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

to meet with it, and, if off his guard, to be half overcome
before he knows he is being attacked. Here is where the
priest, with his trained mind and wider knowledge, might
step in and save. His people, accustomed to ' seek the law
at his mouth,' will hearken to him with an attention they
will give to no other. He must, however, show that on
this, as on more strictly religious topics, he speaks out of an
abundance of knowledge far beyond their own, and with a
keenness and accuracy of analysis for which their education
has not in most cases prepared them. The sources of such
knowledge are to hand, the study light and attractive, the
danger great and increasing, the need for guidance urgent.
As in the multiplicity of books some may find rather a
hindrance than a help, it is hoped that the compendium
attempted in these articles will not be unwelcome.

WHAT IS MEANT BY MATEEIALISM

Materialism is a system of philosophy which recognises
the existence of nothing else but matter- Matter is the
origin, principle, and source of everything that exists, from
the dead stone to the living animal and the thinking man.

Matter is the origin of all that exists ; all natural and mental
forces are inherent in it. ... Nature produced man by her own
power, and takes him again.1

I discern in matter the promise and potency of every form
and quality of life.2

Not alone the more ignoble forms of animal life, not alone
the exquisite and wonderful mechanism of the human body, but
the human mind itself — emotion, intellect, will, and all their
phenomena — were once latent in a fiery cloud. ... At the
present moment, all our philosophy, all our poetry, all our
science, all our art — Plato, Shakspeare, Newton, Eaphael — are
potential in the fires of the sun.3

The existing wrorld lay, potentially, in the cosmic vapour,
and a sufficient intelligence could, from a knowledge of the
properties of the molecules of that vapour, have predicted, say,
the fauna of Britain in 1869 with as much certainty as one can
say what will happen to the vapour of the breath in a cold
winter's day.4

1 Biichner, Force and Matter.

^Tyndall, Belfast Address, 1874.

3 Scientific use of the Imagination.

* Huxley, Critiques and Addresses, p. 305.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 341

Here on the very threshold of our subject we get a fair
idea of what we are to expect from the scientific philo-
sophers. Perhaps the first feeling we have on reading such
extraordinary language is — Did they really mean it ? And
if so, were they in that state of exaltation which a coroner's
jury would call 'temporary insanity '? For it is surely hard
to conceive sane men talking like this to other sane men.
Tyndall's 'fiery cloud' is portentous enough, but Huxley's
jaunty prediction is nothing short of magnificent. It will
be noted that these eloquent sentences embody mere
assertions wrapt up in ornate language, decked with figures
of speech, but destitute of the smallest rag of proof.
Indeed the inherent absurdity of the statements precluded
any attempt at proof.

Father Dalgairns, in his sketch of theories of matter,
directs attention to the contrast between ' shallow men '
who ' know all about matter and space,' and ' the master-
minds of a whole century occupied in fathoming the
depths of the subject, and successively failing.'1 History
repeats itself in the persons of our self-styled ' philosophers '
talking as glibly of the ' potentialities ' of matter as though
its ultimate particles were as visible as brickbats, while of
these same ultimate particles and their ' potentialities '
master-minds like Faraday and Cardinal Newman confess
they know nothing.

The most remarkable public declaration in our day
in favour of the materialistic philosophy was the famous
' Belfast Address ' of Tyndall at the meeting of the British
Association there in 1874. It will be found in his Fragments
of Science, vol. ii. It may be regarded as a sort of gospel of
modern scientific materialism.

Following the usual order of thought we now proceed
to consider — (1) the materialistic views about matter ;
(2) about life ; (3j about animals ; and (4) about man. The
last two sections, as the reader knows, are included under
the name of Darwinism.

1 The Holy Communion, third edition, p. 65.

342 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

NATUEE OF MATTER

Though it is no part of our plan to state a philosohpy
of either matter, life, or mind, we may set down here a
few guiding principles about matter, drawn almost
exclusively from Father Dalgairns' historical sketch in his
well-known work on the Holy Communion. Our extracts
are necessarily both brief and broken.

1. What exactly do we mean by matter or substance ?

Matter means the real external thing which remains the
same in all changes of phenomena, and out of which they
are all educed, . . . According to the latest views of scientific
men, all these marvellous phenomena are attributed to the matter,
and are drawn out of its latent powers.1 . . . Matter is the
hidden object which is the cause of all phenomena affecting the
senses.2

In short, matter is the invisible basis of phenomena.

2. Is matter in se perceptible to the senses? Matter
in se is altogether beyond the ken of sense. No instrument
has ever been made, nor is there the least hope that an
instrument ever will be made, capable of showing us the
ultimate elements of matter. St. Thomas had said that
substance is discerned by the intellect, and not by sense.
1 Modern philosophy corroborates St. Thomas by establish-
ing that the idea of substance comes not from experience,
but from intuition.'3 Faraday says : 'All our perception
and knowledge of the atom, and even our fancy, is limited to
ideas of its powers . . . The powers we know and recognise
in every phenomenon of the creation, the abstract matter in
none.'* And again : ' We know nothing of matter but its
forces. . . . All the rest is only imagination.'5 It is of
matter in this sense Cardinal Newman says : ' What do I
know of substance or matter ? Just as much as the greatest
philosopher, and that is nothing.'6

In analyzing the idea of matter we perforce arrive at elements
not derived from experience. Hence the failure of all attempts

1 Page 55. The italics in every case are our?. 2 Page 62. 3 Page 66.
4 Page 70,71. 5 Life of Faraday, vol. ii., p. 177. 6 Apologia.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 343

to explain it empirically.1 . . . Sense can only tell us that the
colour, taste, and smell of bread are there (in the Blessed
Sacrament), which no one denies. It cannot inform us that the
substance of bread lies under the appearances, since it knows
nothing of substance at all. That these qualities are produced by
a hidden substance is a truth furnished by the intellect, and of
which sense knows nothing. It is folly, therefore, to appeal to
the five senses to prove that the substance of bread lies there
after the consecration, since even before the miracle they were
incompetent to prove it. 2

3. If matter in se so entirely evades our percejDtiong how; .
do we ascertain its objective existence? ^JLts' objective
existence is a deduction from phenomena on the ground of
the necessary connection of cause and effect.

Unless it were by virtue of a primitive law of our minds, it
would be impossible for us to conceive the idea of substance.
Sense and experience could never furnish us with it ; they only
tell us of phenomena, while substance is precisely that which lies
underneath the appearances presented to sight, hearing, and
touch. It is another shape of the intuition of cause, since it
stands to the phenomena in the relation of cause to effect.3 . . .
It is the external reality which is inferred by the mind to be the
cause of impressions made on the sense.4

4. How can we form any rational conception of the
ultimate nature of matter — a thing so hopelessly out of the
reach of sense that its existence is purely inferential ? By a
further application of the principles of causation. A cause
must be adequate to its effects. Here natural phenomena
are the effects ; from these we have to reason back to an
adequate cause.

5. What are the most notable conceptions that have been
from time to time formed of the ultimate nature of matter ?
A complete answer to this question must be sought in
treatises on the subject. A compendious answer, up to a
certain point, is supplied by Father Dalgairns in the chapter
of his book from which we are here constantly quoting. We
say, up to a certain point; for since Father Dalgairns
concluded his sketch with the force atom, at least one other

1 Holy Communion, p. 62. 3 Page 60.

2 Page 61. * Page 62.

344 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

notable conception has been put forward, viz., Lord Kelvin's
vortex atom, or vortex ring in an assumed perfect fluid
universally diffused. An account of this latest attempt to
provide an adequate cause for natural phenomena will be
found in chapter XII. of Tait's Recent Advances in Physical
Science. We cull out the following particulars regarding
the force atom : —

Leibnitz framed the system which identifies the idea of
substance with the idea of force? . . . He defined its ultimate
elements to be simple, unextended forces.2 . . . The phenomena of
the world are the result of the united action of these forces. They
produce effects which impress upon our senses the feelings of
resistance, colour, and the other phenomena which we call
extension, solidity, and the various qualities assigned to bodies. . . .
If anyone asks me how these heterogeneous forces can so act
together as to form those bodies, I can only point to their
Omnipotent Creator. Matter is unintelligible without creation.
The energy of God's creative act still lasts within them. Then
God bestowed upon them the power of being separate causes
and ever active substances. Then, by a pre-established harmony,
He contrived their future operations, so that they should all
precisely correspond with each other, and act in unison, so as to
produce upon our senses those united appearances.1 • . . At this
day some of the greatest names in various departments of
science hold the view that the ultimate particles of matter are
unextended. ... So far from considering the reality of the
external world to be imperilled, they unite in considering that
force without extension is sufficient to account for all the pheno-
mena of sensation, and to form a basis for the certainty of
science.2

6. "We have several times used the word phenomena, and
therefore think it well to quote the following in explanation

of it :—

Phenomena are positive effects upon our senses, caused by
contact with these numberless forces of nature. Eelatively true
indeed they are, not absolutely ; for they are the joint effect of
the objects without us and of our organism. Therefore they
only represent these objects as they appear to us, not as they are
in themselves ; yet inasmuch as the phenomena are really

1 Holy Communion, p. 56. 3 Page 93.

2 Page 62. * Page 68.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 345

produced by the objects, they convey to us a true idea, though an
imperfect one. They are God's signs by which He teaches the
knowledge of His world.1

MATEEIALISTIC VIEW OF MATTEE

The thought of the master-minds of all the ages may be
said to have issued in the conception of matter outlined in
the preceding points. Sad to say, it is, we are now assured,
all absolutely worthless. Matter is not of this kind at all.
' Matter,' says Tyndall, ' has been defined and maligned by
philosophers and theologians, who were equally unaware that
it is, at bottom, essentially mystical and transcendental.' a
"What a sorry lot were those philosophers and theologians
never to have even suspected this ! Luckily for the credit
of the human intellect, Tyndall & Co. were not left super-
fluously 'potential in the fires of the sun,' where they could
be of little use, but by a merciful dispensation of atoms have
been given to enlighten the world in a different way. Such
intellectual farthing candles as St. Thomas, Leibnitz,
Faraday, and Lord Kelvin may now, we suppose, be
blown out !

But what is there, we ask, so entirely wrong about those
ideas of matter ? And we are told in reply that they give a
quite inadequate account of the functions of matter. Matter
as above described would be altogether incompetent to
explain the phenomena of life and mind,- which must some-
how be got out of it. But nemo dat quod non habet — not
even matter. Tyndall and his fellow-materialists are fully
alive to the truth of Dr. Martineau's playful warning — ' You
will get out of your atoms by evolution exactly so much, and
no more, as you have put into them by hypothesis.'
Accordingly ' the promise and potency of life ' has now to
be put into the atoms by a process as summary as the
stuffing of a Christmas turkey. A brand new definition,
borrowed by Tyndall from Professor Bain of Aberdeen,
is to do the work. And truly it was worth going all the
way to N. B. for such a gem ! Henceforth matter is ' a

1 Page 64. We have ventured to break up one long sentence, and to
substitute nouns for confusing pronour.s.

2 Vitality.

346 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

double-faced unity, having two sets of properties, or two
sides— the physical and the mental.'1 Behold what the
philosophers and theologians had for centuries groped after
in vain ! With this talisman, Tyndall was ready for all
sorts of philosophic knight-errantry. He would 'exalt "brute
matter'' from its abasement.' Spirit and matter are hence-
forth ' equally worthy, equally wonderful — two opposite
faces of the self-same mystery.' He solemnly confirms their
union with the usual text of Scripture, and 'repeals the
divorce hitherto existing between them.'2 Matter, like the
marble Galatea, seemed already to feel the first throbs of
awakening life !

But there came a skeleton to the marriage feast ! . The
human mind forbade the banns; and the high priest had to
admit that the grand union was 'unthinkable,' and that 'to
try to comprehend it, is to attempt to soar in a vacuum.' 3
Then, the magic definition had a suspiciously ' ready-made '
appearance. One was forcibly reminded of Faraday's patent
recipe for turning out atoms that could be relied on — " To
account for effects we have only to hang on to assumed
atoms the properties, or arrangement of properties, assumed
to be sufficient for the purpose.' 4 We can fancy ourselves
in the atomic dressing-room, seeing Professor Bain hang on
the new ' properties.' But thankless ' brute matter ' kicks ;
and we shall immediately find the worthy Professor much
exercised to keep the new clothes on the old atoms. For
the moment, however, he seems immensely satisfied — ' The
arguments for two substances have, we believe, now entirely
lost their validity.' His one double-faced darling ' would
appear to comply with all the exigencies of the case.' * This
is useful, at least as showing us the very latest method of
disposing of an adversary's arguments. We have only to .
draw up a definition that will cut them out, and then
calmly inform him that ' his arguments have now entirely
lost their validity.'

1 Mind and Body. * Life of Faraday, vol. ii.

a Scientific nse of the Imagination. 5 Mind and Body.

3 Belfast Address.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 347

But the belief of ages was not to be so airily dismissed.
If Tyndall, with the best intentions, found the ' double-faced
unity ' unthinkable, others could hardly be blamed if they
found it absurd. So Professor Bain had to try to reconcile
men's minds to the new view.

Extension is but the first of a long series of properties all
present in matter, all absent in mind. Inertia cannot belong to
a pleasure, a pain, an idea, as experienced in the consciousness.
Inertia is accompanied with gravity, a peculiarly material quality.
So colour is an utterly material quality ; it cannot attach to a
feeling properly so called, a pleasure or a pain. These properties
are the bases of matter ; to them are superadded form, motion,
position, and a host of other properties expressed in terms of
these. . . . Our mental and bodily states are utterly contrasted.
Our mental experience, our feelings and thoughts have no exten-
sion, no place, no form or outline, no mechanical division of
parts .

That is a fair statement of the difficulty ; now for the
solution. How does Professor Bain reconcile these contra-
dictories ? — ' The only mode of union that is not contradictory
is the union of close succession in- time.' Here is something
even more mysterious than the definition it is meant to-
explain. The whole question is about one substance — a,
'unity.' This 'unity' has two sets of inherent properties,
which admittedly cannot be present together. When one
set is in, the other set is necessarily out. Yet both the ' ins'
and the 'outs' are inherent properties, and inherent pro-
perties should be always present as long as the entity or
unity continues to be what it is. Here, then, we have pro-
perties that must be present and absent at the same time —
present always because they are inherent properties, and
absent in turn to make way for each other ! After this it
may seem trifling to ask what becomes of the ' outs ' while
they are out? Do they, like our Parliamentary 'outs/
betake themselves to Opposition benches ? And how do-
they get back again ? And how are things so nicely balanced
that they go on for ever succeeding without ever colliding ?
Or, look at it another way. The substance, with its

1 Mind and Body .

348 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

physical properties present, is a physical entity ; and the
same substance, with its mental properties present, is a
mental entity. It is admitted that the substance cannot be
these two a t once. How, then? 'By close succession in
time.' But how can it be two things in ' close succession,'
and all the time be one thing — a 'unity'? To fulfil the
conditions, we should have the same substance closely
succeeding to itself ! But ' that way madness lies ! ' We
had better give up trying to think the ' unthinkable.'

Here, then, we have the failure of the ' hanging on '
process virtually admitted — the properties won't ' hang on '
together. There is no way out of the difficulty but the old
one ; the two sets of contradictory attributes must have two
distinct substances in which to inhere. Philosophers not at
all of our way of thinking confirm this. Sir W. Hamilton's
' common measure ' for mind and matter was ' the whole
diameter of being.' Herbert Spencer says : — ' Materialists
are profoundly convinced that there is not the remotest
possibility of interpreting mind in terms of matter.' These,
with Tyndall's ' vacuum,' will reassure us for the present.
The great revolution in human thought has not come off.
' Brute matter,' notwithstanding all efforts to exalt it,
remains pretty much where it was, and philosophers and
theologians may still go on ' defining and maligning ' it with
impunity. We are still left our double heritage of matter
and mind, and the most ' unthinkable ' thing associated with
them is that anyone should say they are one.

To be continued. E. GAYNOE, C.M.

I 349 J

THEOLOGY

ABE THOSE WHO CANNOT HEAR MASS ON SUNDAYS AND
HOLIDAYS OBLIGED TO HEAR IT AT OTHER TIMES

REV. DEAK SIR, — Would you be kind enough to favour me,
at your earliest convenience, with an answer to the following
question : —

Ought a confessor to refuse absolution to a penitent who,
though unable to hear Mass on Sundays and holidays during the
year, is weil able to hear Mass on some week-days in the year,
but refuses to do so ?

WOBKHOUSE CHAPLAIN.

The solution of this question mainly depends on the
source of the obligation in virtue of which the faithful are
bound to assist at Mass. We shall, therefore, before
answering the question, consider quo jure this obligation
arises.

The obligation of the faithful to hear Mass may, con-
ceivably, arise — (1) from the natural law, or (2) from the
divine positive law, or (3) from ecclesiastical law merely.

The natural law binds man to worship God, not merely
with internal, but also with external acts of homage. The
natural law, however, does not define the particular acts by
which, or the time at which, external divine worship must
be offered. ' Ex vi solius legis naturalis non est positive
determinatus modus particulars adorandi Deum cultu
externo, nee quoad genera actionum, nee quoad tempora
vel alias circumstantias* 1 St. Thomas, indeed, seems
to assert that sacrifice is obligatory jure naturae? Suarez,
however, understands him to mean that sacrifice ' licet
non sit 'in rigor e praescriptum sola lege naturae, est
adeo consentaneum illi, ut semper fuerit quasi de jure

1 Suarez, xiii. De Virt. et Statu Eelig., lib. L, cap. ii., 6.

2 Vid. Quaest. 85, Art. 4.

350 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

gentium, quod quodammodo naturalis dicitur.' l And Billuart,
explaining the same doctrine, says that sacrifice is obligatory
on all jure naturae, in the sense that, in omni com-
munitate [pfferri debet] sacrificium pro omnibus. We may,
then, fairly assume — and it will suffice for our purpose —
that there is no obligation, arising directly from the natural
law, in virtue of which, each and every individual is bound
to offer, or participate in offering, sacrifice, It is manifest,
consequently, that the natural law cannot directly bind one
to offer, or assist at, Mass. It obliges us to internal and
external worship. But that external worship may be
rendered either by assisting at Mass or by other external
acts of homage : —

Multi sunt [writes Saurez] cultus extern!, qui non sunt
sacrificia nee oolationes externarum rerum, ut sunt geneflexio,
tunsio pectoris, laudatio vocalis et similes. Possent ergo homines
esse contenti siniilibus actionibus ad Deum adorandum sine aliis
oblationibus ; neque hoc haberet intrinsecam deformitatem ex vi
legis naturae, ut per se constat, quia ex nullo principio ostendi
potest intrinseca malitia in limitatione talium signorurn cum
negatione (ut sic dicam) aliorum.2

But, perhaps, there is an hypothetical obligation arising
from the natural law. Once God has instituted a certain
form of sacrifice, such as those of the Jewish dispensation or
the sacrifice of the Mass, does that sacrifice eo ipio, inde-
pendently of positive precept, become obligatory on those for
whom it was instituted ? In other words, does the natural
law itself bind the faithful to assist at Mass, i.e., in the
hypothesis that the Mass is instituted by God ? To us, the
argument for such a hypothetical obligation appeals very
strongly.

Man is bound to worship God externally. Sacrifice is the
most natural and spontaneous external expression of man's
homage to God, and of his dependence on Him ; nothing
else will account for the fact that sacrificial rites have found
a place among all nations. When, therefore, God, by
instituting a special form of sacrifice, desires the manner
in which He desires to be worshipped, right reason would
seem to oblige men not to disregard this indication of the

1 Suarez, De Virt. Relig., lib. i., cap. iii., 3. - Suarez, foe. cit.

NOTES AND QUERIES 351

divine pleasure. Men ought sometimes worship their
Creator by offering the sacrifice that He has instituted.

However, as we shall see, theologians of the greatest
name refuse to recognise such an hypothetical obligation of
the natural law. We may remark too, that a kindred con-
troversy exists as to the obligation posita institutione, of
receiving Confirmation or Extreme Unction. Theologians
are found to affirm, and others to deny, a grave obligation
hypothetically arising from the natural law, — with the result
that, according to many theologians, no strict obligation of
receiving these Sacraments can be enforced.

Apart from the natural law, the obligation to hear Mass
must come either from the divine positive law or from the
ecclesiastical law. Is there, then, a positive divine precept ?
Lehmkuhl is clearly of opinion that there is.

Qui per totum annum [he says] impediretur, quominus diebus
Dominicis et festivis Sacro interesset, aliquoties id supplere
deberet diebus ferialibus (v.g., ter quaterve) quia divina ilia lex
non est tempori determinate affixa, ut affixa est lex ecclesiastical

We find that Marc 2 and Haine 3 endorse the opinion of
Lehmkuhl. Neither of these writers, however, states whether
he relies on an express positive divine precept, or on that
divino-natural precept of which we have spoken above. On
the other hand, Ballerini, Gury,[Aertnys, D'Annibale,Sabetti,
Konings, and other modern writers, seem by their silence to
deny the existence of this divine precept. Suarez discusses
the question at some length. He admits that' probable
arguments in favour of a divine precept are derived from the
institution of the Holy Sacrifice, and also from the words
Hoc facite, &c., which were probably addressed, he thinks,
not merely to the Apostles and their successors, but to the
faithful generally. But he clearly enough conveys his mind,
when he concludes with the following words : —

Quamvis haec [argumenta pro praecepto divino] quae pro-
babilia sunt, non cogant ut simpliciter asseramus praeceptum hoc
audiendi missatn etiam in communi sum-plum, esse de jure divino
satis ad rem moralem est, quod sit valde consentaneum, licit
absolute ecclesiasticum tantum sit. 4

1 Via., vol. i., n. 567. ,3. Via., i. q. 112.

2 Via., i., n. 685, note. * Suarez, De Sacr, Missae, Disp. 88, sec. i., 3.

352 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Lugo disposes of the matter in similar terms :—

Quamvis vero [praeceptum audiendi missam] non sit mere
naturale aut divinum sed ecclesiasticum ; est tamen multum con-
forme legi natural! et divinae, supposita institutione hujus sacrificii
et obligatione exhibendi cultum aliquem visibilem Deo.1

So much for the authorities we have seen for and against
a divine precept.

All, of course, admit that it is in virtue of the ecclesiasti-
cal law alone that the faithful are bound to sanctify Sundays
and holidays by hearing Mass. As far as the natural and
divine laws are concerned, the obligation to worship God
may be fulfilled on other days equally well. Whether, apart
from ecclesiastical law, the natural and divine obligation of
worship can be fulfilled without offering or participating in
offering the Mass, depends on the answer that we give to
the question in dispute between Lehmkuhl on the one
side, and Suarez on the other.

And now we reply to the questions proposed. In other
words, the question may be formulated thus : (1) Are the
faithful bound by a natural or divine precept, as well as by
the ecclesiastical precept, to hear Mass, so that one who
cannot fulfil both obligations, by hearing Mass on Sundays
and holidays, is bound if possible to hear ;Mass, at least a
few times in the year, on week days, in order to fulfil the
natural and divine law ? and (2) is absolution to be refused
to a person who refuses.

In our opinion there is, apart from the ecclesiastical law,
a grave obligation, jure divino aut hypothetico-naturali, to
hear Mass, at least a few times (three or four times, accord-
ing to theologians) in the year. We base this opinion, not
merely on the authority of the theologians above quoted for
this view, but especially on the fact that the institution of
the Holy Sacrifice of the New Law seems to us to carry with
it a divine or hypothetico-natural precept, binding the faithful
not to pass their lives without participating in the Sacrifice
instituted for their use. But while this is our view, and
while we would commend it as strongly as possible to our

1 Lugo, De Euchar., Disp. xxii., sec. i. ; Conf. Elbel, In Tertium Praeccp.
Decalogi, n. 340.

NOTES AND QUERIES 353

penitents, we should not consider ourselves justified in
refusing absolution tc a penitent, otherwise rightly disposed,
who might insist on following out the principles of Suarez
to their logical conclusion. Ex hypothesi, it is impossible
for him to comply with the ecclesiastical precept of hearing
Mass on Sundays and holidays ; there remains probably,
according to Suarez, only the obligation of the natural and
divine law to worship God sometimes, cultu turn interno turn
externo. Assisting at Mass is only one of many ways in
which external worship may be rendered to God. The man
who makes use of vocal prayer and other such acts of external
worship violates, in the opinion of Suarez and those who
bold with him, no certain obligation, hy refusing to assist at
Mass. We could not strictly urge an obligation whose
existence is denied or ignored by authorities of such repute.

DOUBTFUL BAPTISM AND THE IMPEDIMENT OF
' DISPABITAS CUI/TUS '

REV. DEAR SIR, — Be so kind as to answer the following: —
John, an infidel, marries Anne, baptized according to the rite oi
the Presbyterian Church, before a magistrate. John procures a
divorce, and is now instructed with a view to marry a Catholic
girl. Now, some canonists maintain that one must be certain of
Anne's baptism before he can declare the first marriage invalid,
and that in case of a doubtful baptism, as the Presbyterian, the
Pauline dispensation must be made use of ; others, however, hold
that the presumption is in favour of the validity of the baptism,
and the invalidity of the marriage. Having procured the sworn
testimony of John's parents that he was never baptized, and the
sworn testimony of Anne's parents that she was baptized accord-
ing to the Presbyterian rite, can I marry them ?

SACERDOS.

The salient points of this case are well and clearly put
by our correspondent. John, an infidel, married Anne, a
Presbyterian. The fact of Anne's baptism is certain; its
validity, however, is doubtful, for it was administered accord-
ing to the Presbyterian rite.1

1 Koninga and Kenrick, writing with special knowledge of America, from
which this question comes, declare the validity of Presbyterian baptisms doubt-
ful. ' Baptismus aliquando dubius evadit ex levi ratione qua bapuzandos,

VOL. I. Z

354 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

After some time, John sought and obtained a civil
divorce. He is now about to become a Catholic and he wishes
to marry a Catholic. Is he free to marry without further
formality? or, is it necessary or desirable that he should
have recourse to the Pauline privilegium fidei, in virtue of
which a converted infidel is free to marry again, whenever
the infidel partner of the first marriage refuses to be con-
certed or to cohabit sine contumdia creatoris?

We may say, at the outset, that practically everything
tnrns on the validity of the baptism of the parties. One's first
duty, therefore, would be to verify the assertions that John
had not been baptized; that Anne had been. And in the
case of Anne it would, then, be necessary to examine, not
merely the sufficiency of the rite observed in her sect, but
also, if possible, the circumstances of her individual baptism.
If, as a result of these inquiries, John is found to have been
certainly unbaptized, and Anne doubtfully baptized, our
correspondent's question legitimately arises.

We should observe, also, that whatever may be our
correspondent's solution of the case, he ought not rely
wholly on his own judgment, but ought to submit the
circumstances to the Ordinary, who, in turn, may think it
well to submit the case to higher authority.1 We may now
state what, in our opinion, the decision in the case would be.

Assuming that proper inquiries have been duly made, and
that the facts are found to be as stated, John is, we think,
free to contract anew ; and that without invoking the privi-
legium fidei. If Anne had been validly baptized, then, of
course, John's marriage with her would have been invalid,
owing to the diriment impediment of disparitas cultus.
For it should be noted that this impediment invalidates the
marriage of any baptized person, whether Catholic or non-
Catholic, with an unbaptized person. If, then, Anne's
baptism were certainly valid, her marriage with John would
have been, with equal certainty, invalid ; and John would be
now free to marry.

eosque persaepe plures simul aspersoria lustrant sectarum minis tri, praesertim,
Presbyterian! et Methodistae; pellem, " enim probabiliter contingere debet aqua
etflnere." ' Koningsn. 1264, iii. A.B.

. ! Vid. Eesp. S.C.S. Officii, 5 Feb., 1851.

NOTES AND QUERIES 355

On the other hand, if Anne's alleged baptism were proved
to be certainly invalid, then her marriage with John was —
if there existed no diriment impediment of the divine law or
of the civil law — a valid marriage. It would have been the
marriage of two infidels, over whom the Church could not
claim jurisdiction. In this hypothesis, John's marriage with
Anne would remain valid, in spite of the civil divorce and of
his conversion. . Apart from a special Papal dispensation,
his only remedy, with a view to a second marriage, would be
to rely on the privilegium fidei.1 He might ask Anne ant
canverti aut cohabitare sine contumelia creatoris. If she
consents, John's second marriage is, without a Papal dis-
pensation, impossible during Anne's life: if she refuses, John
may in virtue of the Pauline dispensation, contract a new
marriage — which eo ipso dissolves the first.

The difficulty, however, of the present case is that Anne's
baptism is neither certainly valid, nor certainly un valid ; it
is doubtfully valid. A corresponding doubt, consequently,
seems to arise regarding the validity of her marriage with
John. And, now, when John wishes to marry a Catholic,
he is face to face with the fact that he is probably already
married, and that there is, therefore, a probable diriment
impediment of the divine law, impedimentum ligaminis.

It would, no doubt, be a perfectly safe course to take the
precaution of asking Anne to resume cohabitation. If she
refused, then, whether his first marriage was valid or not,
John would be free to contract with another. If it was
invalid he is already free ; if it was valid he will be liberated
by the Pauline dispensation. But this course might lead to
very obvious difficulties, especially if Anne were unexpectedly
to consent. The question then naturally arises, is there any
need to fall back on this Pauline dispensation, or, is John
free to contract without farther formalities ?

We may, we think, in reply, lay down the following
propositions : (1) that Anne's baptism is in ordine ad matri-

1 The marriage of infidels may be dissolved by Papal dispensation, on the
conversion of one or both, modo matrimonium nonfuerit constimmattim ; accord-
ing to many, and rightly, we think, matrimonium consummation in inficlelitatc can
also be dissolved modo nonfucrit consummatum post baptismwn reception. Ballerini —
•Ghuy, ii. 759 ; Gasparri, ii. 1108.

356 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

monium to be considered certainly valid; (2) that the marriage
ol John and Anne is to be considered certainly invalid ob
disparitatem cultus ; (3) that, therefore, no appeal to the privi-
legium fidei and no communication with Anne is necessary;
that John is already free to marry. We give our reasons for
these assertions.

We say that a doubtful baptism is in or dine ad matri-
monium to be. held valid. Even though the doubt may be
such as to make re-baptism sub-conditione obligatory, a
marriage, dependent for its validity or invalidity on the
validity of the first baptism, is not affected.1 This has
been the invariable teaching of the Holy Office. Moreover,
the validity of a marriage is not affected by a doubt about
the baptism of one of the parties, whether the doubt arose
before the marriage was contracted, or after. We give two
out of many responses that might be cited on this point. In
1737, the Congregation had submitted to it the case of a
woman married to a Catholic, who though herself brought up a
Catholic, began, after her marriage, to doubt about her
baptism, and it was asked, ' An Laura D. baptizari debeat
sub-conditione in ca&u' The reply was ' affirmative, et
secreto et sine prcejudicio validitatis matrimonii.' The
baptism was thus declared doubtful, the marriage valid ;
though it was more or less probably a marriage between a
baptized and an unbaptized person.

The same reply was given to a Vicar Apostolic in Japan,
in September, 1868, in cases in which the doubt about
baptism is antecedent to the marriage. It was stated that
in certain cases there was a doubt about the baptism of
persons about to be married, and at the same time, it was
alleged there was a difficulty in removing the doubt. The
question was then put —

1. Utrum in casu dubii de valore baptismi, qui ita baptismum
susceperunt Japonenses ut Christian! vel infideles adhuc conside-
randi sunt ? 2. Utrum si dubium de valore baptismi remaneat,
et non visum sit opportunum solvere dubium de iis qui sic dubie
baptizati sunt, in rebus quae matrimonium spectant ac si vere et
valide baptizati fuissent, judicandum sit vel non. The S. Cong.

1 Conf. Lehmkuhl, ii., n. 752 ; Feije, n. 461 ; Gasparri, i. n. 597.

NOTES AND QUERIES 357

replied : ' Ad primum, generatim loquendo ut Christian! habendi
sunt ii, de quifms dubitatur, an valide baptizati fuerint ; ad
secundum, censendum est validum baptisma in ordine ad validi-
tatem matrimonii.'

There is no doubt, therefore, but we are justified in look-
ing upon Anne's baptism as valid, in ordine ad matrimonii
validitatem aut invaliditatem.

2. From this doctrine, our second assertion follows as
a necessary consequence. In foro externo, at all events
Anne's marriage with John is to be considered invalid ob
disparitatem cultus. We say in foro externo, because in foro
interno, the marriage, given due consent, and the absence
of natural and civil diriment impediments, was valid in the
event of Anne's baptism being de facto invalid. The parties
in that hypothesis, were both unbaptized, and consequently
were not affected by the merely ecclesiastical diriment
impediment of disparitas cultus.

3. It seems to follow, therefore, that in foro externo it is
unnecessary for John to rely on the Pauline dispensation.
If his marriage with Anne is to be considered certainly
invalid, then, his marriage with someone else would appear
to be per se certainly lawful.

A case very similar to that proposed to us was put to the
Congregation of the Holy Office in 1840. An Anglican
married a woman who, according to his testimony, had not
been baptized. The union proved unhappy, and he deserted
his first wife, and married a Lutheran. He subsequenty
desired to become a Catholic, and the question arose, which
of the women was to be considered his wife. The matter
was referred to the Congregation, and the reply was that
the first marriage was invalid dummodo constet de non-
collatione birptiami mulieris, the second marriage valid
dummodo nullum aliud impedimentum obstet.

We give the question and the reply : —

Vir quidam protestans Anglicanae sectae vult amplecti Catho-
licam religionem. In Anglia matrimonium fecit cum muliere
quae ad sectam Anabaptistarum pertinebat et quae, prout ipse
affirmat, nunquam baptizata fuit. Quum vero ipse baptismum
a ministro Protestante Anglicano receperit, de validitate ejus

358 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

proprii baptismatis ratio quoque dubitandi gravis existit. Prop-
ter jurgia continua mulierem Anabaptistam vir praefatus
desei-uit venitque N., ubi matrimoniuin iterum fecit, sed cum
raultere Lutherana. Quaenam ex istis mulieribus tanquam ejus
uxor haberi debet ? S. C. die 20 Jul. 1840 respondit : Dummodo
constet de non collatione baptisrni mulieris Anabaptistae primum
matrimomum fuisse nullum : secundum vero, dummodo nullum
aliud impedimentum obstet, fuisse validuin.

If, therefore, John, having been first baptized, had already
contracted a marriage with the Catholic girl, and inquired
about his status, we might, adapting the response of the
Congregation reply: 'Dummodo constet de non-collatione
baptismi Joannis, primum matrimonium cum Anna fuit
nullum ; secundum vero, dummodo nullum aliud impedi-
mentum obstet, fuit validum'

It is worth noting that in the reply just given, the
Congregation asserts that, in the absence of another impedi-
ment, the marriage of this Anglican with the Lutheran
woman was valid. There is no reference to the necessity
or desirability of the Pauline dispensation.

We should not fail to note, also, that the Anglican con-
tracted this marriage with the Lutheran woman at a time
when he was, more or less probably, already the husband of
the Anabaptist. Yet, in the face of this doubtful impedi-
ment of the divine law, the Congregation upheld the validity
of the marriage.

Can we, however, give the same reply when there is
question of contracting a marriage? Can John be allowed to
contract a second marriage, though it is more or less probable
that in foro interno, at all events, he is already married to
Anne. We think that the principles involved in the reply of
July 20, 1840, given above, necessarily cover the case of a
marriage yet to be contracted. But, lest it may appear
that the Congregation would have dealt differently with
a marriage yet to be contracted, we give a reply of the
same Congregation, July, 1830, which removes all doubt
from our minds. A number of questions were put regarding
the marriage of an unbaptized person with a heretic doubt-
fully baptized — the very case proposed to us. We give two

NOTES AND QUERIES 359

of the questions, with their answers, which bear on the
matter in hand.

Matrimonium dubie baptizati cum non baptizata estne
validum? Si affirmative ad primum poteritne pars dubie
baptizata uti privilegio fidei post reiterationem baptismi ; et vice
versa poteritne pars non baptizata uti privilegio post baptismum,
si pars dubie baptizata nolet converti aut pacifice cohabitare?
S.C. Jul., 1880, respondit : ' Ad primum, matrimonium habendum
esse uti invalidum ob impedimentum cultus disparitatis. Ad
secundum, provisum in priori.'

The Hply Office, therefore, we have no doubt, would
reply to our correspondent's question by saying that John's
first marriage was to be considered invalid, and that conse-
quently there is no need of recourse to the privilegium fidei.

All this seems undoubtedly true in foro externo. But is
it true in foro interno ? In foro interno, as we have seen
above, John is possibly, or probably, the husband of Anne ?
Can he then in foro conscientiae disregard this probable
impediment of the divine law. Judging by the terms of the
reply just quoted, we think, he can. The Congregation was
asked : 'Poteritne pars non-baptizata uti privilegio post
baptismum, si pars dubie baptizata nolet converti aut
pacifice cohabitare?' The reply was provisum in priori,
in. which the invalidity of the marriage was asserted. Now»
this reply would be quite insufficient and unsatisfactory, if
the Congregation recognised any obligation, even in foro
interno. of using the Pauline dispensation. In view of such
an obligation, the reply, no doubt, would have been ' potest
et debet uti privilegio saltern ad cautelam.' From the terms
in which the answer was given we think ourselves safe in
asserting that John is free turn in foro externo turn in foro
interno to marry the Catholic girl without using the Pauline
dispensation ad cautelam.

D. MANNIX.

36CI THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

LITURGY

CEREMONIES OF HOLY SATURDAY MORNIKG

KEY. DEAR SIR, - —Please inform me in the next issue of the
I. E. EECOBD how I am to proceed with the blessing of the font and
holy water for the faithful in a parish church where the cere-
monies of Holy Week are not carried out. Of course, in churches
where they are solemnly carried out, and in those smaller
churches where there are not sacred ministers, the .rubrics are
clearly laid down in Baldeschi. What about the blessing of the
Paschal candle which should be used ? Is there not (unless I
mistake) a general rubric with regard to the ceremonies of Holy
Week, that unless you carry them out in their entirety the three
days, you are not to begin them on Holy Thursday morning?1

P.P.

This question should, we think, be regarded as merely
speculative. For in every parish church the entire morning
services of the last three days of Holy Week should be gone
through, either solemnly, when the requisite ministers and
choir can be conveniently had, or as prescribed for small
churches by Benedict XIII., where three or four altar-boys
can be procured. Now, there is no parish priest in Ireland
who could not procure this number of altar- boys; and
therefore, there is no parish priest in Ireland who should
not have in his church, in obedience to the laws of the
Church, for the edification, consolation, and spiritual
advantage of his people, the touching ceremonies of the three
most solemn days of the year. Just fancy Holy Thursday,
the day on which we commemorate the institution of the
Most Holy Sacrament, without Mass in the parish church,
without communion for the faithful, without a word from
the priest to remind the people of the great act of love com-
memorated on that day, with, perhaps, the church doors locked,

1 We answered a precisely similar question in these pages just two years
ago (see vol. xvi., pp. 356 et seq.) ; but as little notice seems to have been taken of
the reply then given, and as the matter is, in our opinion, one of grave import-
ance, we give a full reply to this question also.

NOTES AND QUERIES 361

so that the people cannot, if they would, even visit our Lord!
This occurs, and the parish priest thinks he is discharging
his duty to God, and to the people over whom he has been
placed ! But, as our correspondent rightly remarks, the
morning ceremonies of this Holy Triduum are so intimately
connected, that it is forbidden to celebrate those on Holy
Thursday, unless they are to be followed by the ceremonies
proper to the two following days. And should not the people
be invited to come to the church on Good Friday morning,
to meditate on the Passion and Death of their Saviour?
And what form of devotion or of religious service will
produce the same impression on them as the touching
ceremonies wherein the Church mourns for her Spouse ? We
have seen a whole congregation shedding tears while the
priest uncovered the cross, and during the subsequent
adoration of this symbol of oar redemption. The ceremonies
of Holy Saturday are also most beautiful and most impres-
sive. It is impossible not to feel a thrill of heavenly joy,
when, after the mourning and desolation of the preceding
days, the Mass of Holy Saturday begins. The lights, the
flowers, the carpets, and the rich vestments, together with
the music, and ringing of bells, which break forth at the
Gloria in Excelsis, and the simultaneous uncovering of the
statues and paintings around the sanctuary makes one more
vividly realize the glorious Resurrection of Christ, than do
even the ceremonies of Easter Day itself.

But is there a Jaw of the Church obliging parish priests
to carry out the ceremonies of the Holy Triduum ? There
is, if a decree of a Eoman Congregation issued with the
authority of the Pope constitutes a law of the Church. In
replying to a question similar to the present one in the April
number of the I. E. RECORD for 1895, we reproduced the
following decree : —

An Ecclesia Parochialis omnino adigatur ad functiones Sabbati
Sancti juxta parvum Caerimoniale sa, me, Benedict! XIII. si
sufficient clero destituatur.

Affirmative, et servetur in omnibus solitum juxta parvum Caeri-
moniale Benedict! Papae XIII.

It is true that there is mention made in the decree only

362 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

of Holy Saturday, but from what has been already said
regarding the interdependence of the functions of the three
days, it follows that the obligation which this decree imposes
extends to the functions of Thursday and Friday as well,
since it is unlawful to celebrate the functions of any one of
the three days unless they have been preceded or are to be
followed by those of the other two. Hence a parish priest
who can procure the assistance of three or four altar boys —
and every parish priest in Ireland can, we maintain, procure
such assistance — is bound to carry out the morning services
of the Triduum of Holy "Week. The ceremonies are simplicity
itself;1 and any intelligent boy can be instructed in his
part of each morning's functions in a few minutes.

But if a parish priest neglects his manifest duty, and
omits the functions of these days, what is to be said about
blessing the font ? The font cannot be blessed as a part of
the function proper to Holy Saturday, and consequently
need not be blessed at all so far as the rubrics of the missal
and the decrees of the Congregation of Bites relating to this
subject are concerned. But it may be necessary to bless the
font on Holy Saturday for another reason. It is unlawful
to use the old baptismal water after the holy oils blessed on
the preceding Holy Thursday have been distributed to the
clergy. Hence, if a parish priest who has omitted the
morning functions of the Triduum receives the holy oils on
or before Holy Saturday, he should bless the font on that
day ; but as the ceremony is wholly unconnected with the
functions proper to that morning, he may bless the font in
the evening as well as in the morning, and must bless it
according to the form given in the Bitual. There is,
therefore, no Paschal cindle to be used, and consequently
there can be no question of blessing one.

1 See The Ceremonies of Some Ecclesia<ticnl Functions (Browne & Nolan), in
which the fullest instructions are given for the Holy Week Ceremonies in both
large and small churches.

NOTES AND QUERIES 363

THE FUNCTIONS OF HOLY WEEK

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Where, in small churches, oratoriek, &c.,
there is permission for the ceremonies of Holy Week to be carried
out according to the directions of Benedict XIII. —

1. Can there be any justification for carrying them out with
only one altar-boy ?

2. May the celebrant dispense with canopy, cross-bearer, and
acolytes in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, and in
removing the ciborium from the High Altar to the Altar of
Eepose ?

3. May the blessing of the grains of incense and of the Paschal
candle be lawfully omitted in any case ?

C.C.

1. There can be no necessity, and consequently no
justification.

2. He may not dispense with any of these except the
canopy.

3. This blessing may be omitted for a sufficient reason ;
but it is hard to conceive whence a sufficient reason should
arise.

WHA.T IS MEANT BY A PRIVATE MASS?

EEV. DEAR SIR, — An expression in the January number (p. 83) r
' A Private or Low Mass,' suggests some questions to which
I have long been seeking an answer : —

1 . What is the exact and technical meaning of the term Missa
privata ?

Of the authors within my reach, Martinucci has nothing on
the subject, and De Herdt and Wapelhorst do not go into it
thoroughly. For either the Divisio Missae which they give does
not profess to be adequate (and in that case they simply avoid
the point of the question), or they lay down that every Missa
lecta is also a Missa privata. But this cannot be admitted ; for
(amongst other reasons) Missae privatae are forbidden on Holy
Thursday and Holy Saturday. Yet the Memorials Rituum of
Benedict XIII., drawn up to regulate the liturgy in the smaller
parish churches, clearly assumes that the Mass on these days
will not be sung, but read only.

Since the term ' Low Mass ' means simply a Mass not swig,
it is plain that on the answer to the above question will depend

364 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

whether it can be used as exactly synonymous with JJissa
private.

And that this subject has more than a theoretic interest will
be seen by the answer to the

2nd. When the principal Mass in a parish (or, as in England,
mission) church on a Sunday, is not sung, but read only, should the
celebrant add the Hail Mary, &c., ordered by Pope Leo. XIII.
to be said post Missam privatam ?

Benedictine communities ([do not know the use with other
religious) omit these prayers after their conventual Mass, even
when it has bean only a Missa lecta. I know two such commu-
nities where, on semi-doubles, there are two conventual Masses,
the second — de Requiem — being sung, the first of the feast being
only read ; yet these prayers are omitted even after the
first.

May we not say that the principal Mass in a parish church on
Sundays, holidays of obligation, and even feasts of devotion,
constitutes a class by itself, analogous to the Missa conventualis,
and is not, therefore, a Missa prirata ?

AN IEISH PRIEST IN ENGLAND.

The phrase, Missa privata, or 'private Mass,' has two
significations, one of which is opposed to 'public,' the other
to ' solemn ' Mass. A public Mass is that which is cele-
brated in a church or public oratory, and at which the
general body of the faithful are invited, or expected, or at
least free to attend ; while a private, as contradistinguished
from a public Mass, is one which is celebrated in a private
oratory, or, if celebrated in a public oratory or church, is
one at which the general body of the faithful are either not
free or not expected, or at least not invited to attend. Of
the distinction here given, Le Brun1 writes : —

Jam inde ab annis 1200 et amplius missa quae in aliqua
ecclesia, omnibus turn viris, turn mulieribus convocatis celebra-
batur, missa publica dicta fuit, ut a missis secernetur, quae non-
nunquam privatae nuncupabantur, quippe quae in peculiaribus
sacellis, aut pro defunctis, propinquis tantum et amicis accitis,
aut in monasteriorum ecclesiis celebrarentur.

1 Explicatio Missae, p. 3.

NOTES AND QUERIES 365

Another description of a private, as distinguished from a
public Mass, is given by Merati.1

Missa privata, prout distinguitur a publica, est ilia in qua solus
sacerdos sacramentaliter communicat.

Now, manifestly, the ordinary signification of the phrase,
Missa privata, is neither one nor other of the two here
given. For, to mention only one reason, there are evidently
many Masses to which the title ' private ' may be justly
applied ; but there are very few Masses at which the faithful
are not free to assist, or at which one or another in addition
to the celebrant may not communicate. Hence we must
accept as the ordinary signification of ' private Mass,' not
that which it has when opposed to 'public Mass,' but that
which it has when opposed to solemn Mass.

As distinguished from a solemn Mass, then, a private
Mass is one in which the celebrant is not assisted by deacon
or s'jb- deacon, in which there is no singing, and but one
Mass-server. Thus writes Cardinal Bona 2 : —

Alii rectius (missa) privataiii vocant, quae sine diacono et
subdiacono et cantoribus, uno tantum ministrante, celebratur,
sive aliqui fideles ei intersint sive nullus adsit, sive solus celebrans,
communicet, sive sint aliqui communicantes.

To the same effect are the words of Merati3 : —

Missa privata, prout distinguitur a missa solemni, est ilia quae
privatim et peculiariter et sine cantu uno duntaxat clerico minis-
trante, sive in ecclesia sive in oratorio privato celebratur.

Hence, as distinguished from a Solemn Mass, or a Missa
cantata, every Mass that is simply read — that is, of which
no part is sung by the celebrant, is a private Mass. For, by
cantoribus and in cantu of the authors, quoted above, is
meant the same thing ; namely, that there should be singers
or chanters singing alternately with the celebrant, for music
and singing in which the celebrant takes no part do not of
themselves constitute the solemnity of the Mass. Thus, our

1 In Gavantum, part 1, n. 46.

2 Serum Liturgicarum, Li., c. 13, n. 5.

3 In Gavantum, pars, i., no. 46.

366 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

parochial Masses on Sundays, at which in many places a
choir sings portions of the Mass, still remain private as
distinguished from Solemn Masses, unless when the
celebrant sings those parts assigned by the rubrics to the
celebrant of a Solemn Mass, or of a Missa cantata. Hence
we conclude that every Mass not sung by the celebrant is a
* private Mass,' in the ordinary signification of that phrase,
and, consequently, that the phrases ' private Mass ' and
' low Mass ' are synonymous. By the former phrase the
Mass is distinguished from a ' Solemn Mass/ by the latter
from a ' High Mass.'

The objection taken from the Memoriale Rituum is of no
•consequence. Private Masses were forbidden on the last
three days of Holy Week, until the publication of the
Memoriale Rituum ; but the very object which Benedict XIII.
had in view in issuing this addition to the liturgy was to
sanction the celebration on these days of Low Masses, or
private Masses, instead of the Solemn Masses, which, up to
his time, had alone been permitted. The ' private Masses '
now forbidden on the Holy Triduum are Masses in addition
to those required for the carrying out of the functions proper
to eaclTday. Are not Solemn Masses, as well as private
Masses, forbidden on these days ?

2. We are not certain whether a Conventual Mass,
celebrated as a Low Mass, differs from an ordinary Low
Mass in any way, or possesses any privilege which an
ordinary Low Mass does not possess. We have met phrases
like the following : Non solum in missa stride privata sed
etiam in conventuali, which would seem to imply a difference.
But, however this may be, we are prepared to accept the
practice referred to by our correspondent as a proof either
that a Conventual Mass, though not sung, is not one of those
' private Masses ' after which the Papal prayers are to be
said, or that the religious have got a dispensation, Culpa
non praesumitur.

D. O'LoAN.

[ 367

CORRESPONDENCE

THE NEW CATECHISM

EEV. DEAR SIB, — Enclosed please find a few suggestions for
the consideration of the Committee appointed to draft the New
Catechism, which, I think, may prove useful for children if put
by the way of question and answer. From my little experience
of boys at Catechism, I think it well to have them taught that
the church is a holy place, the house of God, and the gate of
heaven, and as such should be reverenced as God's sanctuary.
And when entering the church to bend the right knee to the
ground, and say some little prayer, or make an act of Faith
like the following, which I was taught when .going to Catechism :
! I adore Thee, 0 Lord Jesus Christ, in the most holy sacrament
of the altar.' And further they should know, that when entering,
during the Forty-hours' Adoration, they ought to make a prostra-
tion. I think it wise, also to mention at what part of holy
Mass they should kneel, stand, or sit. Similar instructions
might also be given as regards their attendance at Vespers,
because I think it strange to see one here and another there
standing during the chanting of the Magnificat, or the
singing of a hymn, and all the rest of the congregation
sitting. Besides they should understand, that they are
expected to answer aloud all the prayers said by the priest
in English, especially after the Mass.

In the Catechism ordered by the National Synod of Maynooth
at page 20, Lesson 10, the following question is asked : ' Are
all obliged to be of the true Church ? ' And the answer
given is : ' No one can be saved out of it.' An explanation such
as appears in Catholic Belief might be useful after this answer.

Lesson 12, on Sin. This chapter would be improved if the
following, or something similar were inserted : ' To make sin
mortal, there must be a grave matter, or clear knowledge and
full and free consent of the will.' Then an explanation of what
is a venial sin. This, of course, is better explained by an
example given. I would also give the meaning of the seven
capital sins which does not appear in this chapter, and I would
add how one becomes accessory to the sins of others, which did
appear in some of the old catechisms, as follows : By counsel ;

368 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

by command ; by consent ; by provocation ; by praise or
flattery ; by silence, when one ought to speak ; by con-
cealment ; by aiding ; by defending sins of others. Pointing
out at the same time, that to be accessory to the sin of
another means to be a partner in that sin, and, therefore, the
sin of another is imputed to the partner.

Lesson 17, page 33, on the Second Commandment. Besides
what is already given, the following might be inserted. That
cursing means to wish evil to ourselves or to any of God's
creatures. And that the sin of blasphemy is committed by
those who speak evil of God, of the saints, or of holy things.

Lesson 18, page 36. The meaning of scandal might be
given, when it is direct or indirect. At page 37 the Seventh
Commandment is fully explained ; but, perhaps, if the following
were added it might prove useful : ' That workingmen who idle
the time for which their employer 'pays them violate this
precept.' I would also add to this chapter, the meaning of the
words, 'backbiting, calumny, detraction,' &c., when treating of
the Eighth Commandment. The advantage of this will be better
understood when we remember that Catechism classes are taught
by members of confraternities ; and as it is possible a child might
ask the teacher the meaning of those words, it would be desirable
for one as well as the other, that a proper explanation was given
in the Catechism.

Lesson 25, on Confirmation. The following might be added.
Wisdom teaches us to direct all our actions to the glory
of God, and our last end ; Understanding enables us to
contemplate and submit to the mysteries of faith ; Counsel
discovers to us the frauds and deceits of the devil, the better to
avoid them; Fortitude strengthens us against the persecutions
of the world; Knowledge teaches us to know and understand
the will of God ; Piety makes us devout and zealous to put
it in execution ; and Fear makes us cautious not to offend so
gracious a Majesty. I would also explain the cardinal virtues,
pointing out the difference between Temperance and Total
Abstinence ; and while doing so would it not be well to exhort
all the young to enrol themselves members of the Juvenile
Total Abstinence Sodality, now held monthly in many of our
churches. This would, I think, be practically carrying out the
spirit of the Pastoral Letter of His Grace the Archbishop, and
the Bishops of Kildare and Leighlin, Ferns and Ossory, in 1890.

CORRESPONDENCE 369

In conclusion, what better can I do than ask your Very Eev.
Committee to consider the importance, and the advantage of adding
as a supplement to the New Catechism, the elementary portion
of Father James Cullen's Temperance Catechism, which is
comprised of nine pages, a copy of which I have sent you with
this letter. Possibly I would not refer to the temperance question,
were I not impressed by the following extract of a letter from
His late Eminence Cardinal Manning, written a few years before
his death : — ' Let us not forget that at this moment drunkenness
is spreading among our children, and that boys and girls are to
be seen drunk in our streets, and that there are drinking-places
habitually frequented by boys and girls of fourteen and fifteen
years of age.' I would have written before this, but unfortu-
nately I did not read the I. E. EECORD until a few days ago.
I am, Eev. Dear Sir,

Yours sincerely,

JOHN P. JOSEPH.

THE NATIONAL CATECHISM

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Taking in its literal sense the invitation
given to your readers, to offer suggestions, however unimportant,
touching the preparation of the new Catechism, I venture to
recommend an improvement in the form of the ' Prayer before
teaching the Catechism,' found on one of the first pages of the
Catechism now in use : ' 0 Lord God of infinite beauty and
mercy,' &c. The fault of the form in which the prayer now
stands, in addition to its being, as it seems to me, an unnecessarily
severe handling of the venerable translation to which we were
accustomed, of the ' Deus qui Corda Fidelium,' is, that it is
impossible of committal to memory.

I feel quite sure of my suggestion having been long since
anticipated by the compilers' own intentions, and I feel also sure
that any change they contemplate making in the prayer will be
a change vastly for the better. — Yours, Very Eev. Dear Sir.

A. K.

VOL. I. 2 A

[ 370 ]

DOCUMENTS

THE ACT 9TH OF WILLIAM III.

Two very important papers have appeared in the last two issues
of the I. E. RECORD — one of which from the pen of the Most
Rev. Dr. Healy— the eminent Author of Ireland's Ancient Schools
and ScJwlars, contains the correspondence of the Bishop of Jaurin
[Raab] respecting the remarkable picture of the Infant Saviour
and the Blessed Virgin, now known as that of ' Our Lady of
Gyor ' — brought to the city of that name by an exiled Irish bishop,
Dr. Lynch — two hundred years ago ; and the other by an
accomplished writer, the Eev. J. J. Ryan, under the heading
' Our Lady of Gyor and Bishop Walter Lynch.' In both of these
papers reference is made to the infamous and tyrannical Act 9th
of William III. for banishing the Irish Clergy; and as the
substance of this infamous Act is not generally known, the
reproduction of it may be useful to the readers of the I. E. RECORD
— and at the present time may have a special interest having
regard to current events.

There is one very remarkable clause in this Act that shows
to what extent the Reformation Government by which it was
passed had studied the machinery for the utter extirpation of the
Catholic faith from Ireland. It is well known to the readers of
Irish history, that the confiscation of the churches, monasteries,
and their properties destroyed all chance of the people coming
together in the open, for the purpose of devotion, without incur-
ring the severest penalties of the Reformation Law. They were
driven to the morasses, the woods, the rocks, and the caves for
the purpose of having the Divine Mysteries celebrated for them ;
or for the administration of some sacrament, by a banned and
proscribed priest, over whose head dangled the rope and the
gibbet. But even then there was one place where it was possible
to meet and pray — on melancholy occasions — without the rigours
of the law pursuing.

The grave -yard was still neutral ground, and the occasion of
an interment brought the faithful together, and when they came
together they prayed — oft-times their prayers directed by a priest,
who suddenly appeared among them, and as suddenly disappeared

DOCUMENTS 371

when the last offices were over. The grave-yards were always in
the vicinities of the churches and monasteries, and when the
people would have said their last prayer over the newly-filled
..grave, it was their usual custom to kneel upon the graves of the
•deceased members of their respective families, and afterwards
•assemble and pray before the ruined Altars in their now roofless
churches. Such prayer was to them a solace in their affliction ;
•but even that solace was taken away from them by the VI. clause
of the infamous ' 9th of William III. ' — except indeed, that they
interred in those grounds in the vicinities of places ' made use of
lor celebrating Divine Mysteries, according to the liturgy of the
Church of Ireland, by law established ' — a concession that but
few, if any, availed of. This infamous clause is unknown to
many people at the present time ; and, therefore,, the reproduction
of the Act in its entirety may have more than a passing interest
for the many.

C. G. DORAN.

QUEENSTOWN,

Patrick's Day, 1897.

* A.D. 1697.

'THE NINTH YEAR OF WILLIAM III.

' CHAPTER I.

' An Act for banishing all Papists exercising any Ecclesiastical
Jurisdiction, and all Regulars of the Popish Clergy out of this
Kingdom.

' WHEREAS it is notoriously known, that the late rebellions
in this kingdom have been contrived, promoted, and carried on
by popish archbishops, bishops, Jesuits, and other ecclesiastical
persons of the Eomish clergy ; and for as much as the peace and
publick safety of this kingdom is in danger, by the great number
of said archbishops, bishops, Jesuits, friers, and other regular
. Eomish clergy now residing here, and settling in fraternities and
societies, contrary to law and to the great impoverishing of many
of his Majesty's subjects of this kingdom, who are forced to
maintain and support them ; which said Eomish clergy do not
only endeavour to withdraw his Majesty's subject from their
odedience, but do daily stir up, and move sedition and rebellion,
to the great hazard of the ruine and desolation of this kingdom ;
for the prevention of all which mischiefs, his Majesty is graciously
pleased that it be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most

372 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
lords spiritual, and temporal, and commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, That alf
popish archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, deans, Jesuits, monks,
friers, and all other regular popish clergy, and all papists
exercising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, shall depart out of this
kingdom before the first day of May, which shall be in the year
of our Lord one thousand six hundred and ninety-eight ; and if
any of the said ecclesiastical persons shall be at any time after
the first day of May within this kingdom, they, and every of
them, shall suffer imprisonment, and remain in prison, without
bail or mainprize, till he or they shall be transported beyond seas ,
out of his Majesty's dominions, wherever his Majesty, his heirs or
successors, or the chief governor or governors of this kingdom,,
for the time being, shall think fit ; and if any person so transported
shall return again into this kingdom, they, and every of them,,
shall be guilty of high treason ; and every person so offending
shall for his offence be judged a traytor, and shall suffer, lose,
and forfeit as in case of high treason.

'II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that all and every such popish archbishops, bishops, deans,
vicars-general, Jesuits, friers, and all other popish regular clergy
in this kingdom, shall, before the said first day of May, repair to
the city of Dublin, Cork, Kinsale, Youghal, Waterford, Wexford,
Gallway, or Garrickfergus, and there remain, until there shall be
conveniency of shipping for their transportion into some parts
beyond seas, and out of his Majesty's dominions ; and every of
them, on their first coming into any of the said cities and
towns, giving in their names to the mayor, or other chief
magistrate, who is hereby required to register the same, and
return an account thereof to the Clerk of the Council within ten
days ; and that the said mayor, or other chief magistrate of each
town, and also the collector and surveyor of the port, shall give
their best assistance in transporting every such popish arch-
bishop, bishop, and other popish regular clergyman.

' III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that from and after the 29th day of December, which shall be
in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and
ninety-seven, no popish archbishop, bishop, vicar- general, dean,
nor any other papist exercising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
not established by the laws of this kingdom, Jesuit or frier,.

DOCUMENTS 373

shall corne into this kingdom from any parts beyond the seas,
on pain of twelve months imprisonment, and then to be trans-
ported in manner aforesaid ; and if any such Romish ecclesias-
tical person, so transported, shall again return into this
kingdom, he and they so offending shall be guilty of high
treason, and suffer accordingly,

'IV. And be it further enacted, that any person, that shall
from and after the said first day of May, knowingly harbour,
relieve, conceal, or entertain any such popish archbishop, bishop,
vicar-general, dean, Jesuit, frier, or any other papist exercising
any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, not established by the laws of this
kingdom, or any regular popish clergyman, hereby required to
depart out of this kingdom in manner aforesaid, or that from
and after the said twenty-ninth day of December, one thousand
six hundred and ninety-seven, shall come into this kingdom, con-
trary to the tenor of this act, shall for the first offence forfeit the
sum of twenty pounds ; for the second offence double the same
sum ; to be levied in manner hereinafter expressed ; and if he
shall offend the third time, to forfeit all his lands and tenements
of freehold or inheritance, during his life, and also his goods and
chattels : one moiety whereof .to his Majesty, his heirs and
successors, the other moiety to such person as shall inform, so
that such moiety do not exceed the sum of one hundred pounds,
and the surplus of what shall remain, to his Majesty, his heirs
and successors; the said forfeiture for such third offence to be
recovered by bill, plaint, information, or action for debt, in any of
his Majesty's courts of record at Dublin, or at the Assizes in the
respective counties.

' V. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that upon
information on oath to any justice of the peace in his respective
county against any person or persons, that shall knowingly enter-
tain, succour, relieve, or conceal any such popish person, con-
trary to the purport and meaning of this Act, the said justice of
the peace shall immediately issue a summons in writing under
his hand, thereby requiring the person and persons so informed
against, at a certain day and place within the said county where
such offence shall be committed, to appear before him and some
other justices of the peace of the said county, to answer the said
matter laid to his or their charge ; at which time and place the
said justices shall, in presence of the person or persons accusedi
or in case of his or their neglect to appear, being duly summoned,

374 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

proceed to examination of the said matter ; and, if it shall appear
to them on evidence upon oath, that the person or persons so
complained of are guilty, the said justices shall, by warrant under
their hands and seals, levy the aforesaid forfeitures of twenty
pounds for the first offence, and forty pounds for the second
offence, of the goods and chattels of the person or persons offend-
ing, by distress, sale, or otherwise, and dispose of one moiety of
such forfeitures to the informer or informers, and the other
moiety to the treasurer of the county where such offences shall
be committed, for the uses of the county ; and for default thereof,
to commit the person offending to the county gaol, there to remain
without bail or mainprize until he or they shall pay the said
forfeitures and penalties.

'VI. And be it further enacted, that no person whatsoever
shall, from and after the said twenty-ninth day of December, bury
any dead in any supprest monastery, abbey, or convent, that is
not made use of for celebrating Divine Service, according to the
liturgy of the Church of Ireland by law established, or within the
precincts thereof, upon pain of forfeiting the sum of ten pounds ;
which said sum of ten pounds shall and may be recovered from
any person or persons that shall be present at such burial, and
offending contrary to the tenor of this Act ; which said forfeitures
all and every justices of the peace, in his and their respective
counties, are hereby authorized to hear and determine in manner
as hereinbefore is mentioned and declared ; one moiety of which
said last forfeiture for burying contrary to this Act shall be by
such justice given unto the informer, and the other moiety to the
minister and churchwardens of the parish where any such
offences shall be committed, to be disposed of for the use of the
parish.

' VII. Provided always, that if any person or persons shall
think him or themselves aggrieved, by the judgment and deter-
mination of two such justices of the peace, that the person and
persons so aggrieved may appeal from their judgment and deter-
mination to the next judges of assize, or to the justices of peace
at the next general quarter sessions, who are hereby empowered
to examine the said matter, and give such relief therein as to
them shall seem meet.

' VIII. And it is further enacted, that all and every justice of
the peace shall from time to time issue their warrants for appre-
hending and committal of all popish archbishops, bishops, Jesuits,

DOCUMENTS 375

friers, and other popish ecclesiastical persons whatsoever, that
shall remain and continue in this kingdom, contrary to the tenor
and meaning of this Act ; and for suppressing all monasteries,
frieries, nunneries, or other popish fraternities or societies.

* IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that all and every the justices of the peace in this kingdom shall
give an account in writing of their proceedings in execution of
this statute, at the next general quarter sessions for the county in
which he shall dwell, which shall be at such quarter sessions
entered and registered.

' X. And be it further enacted, that if any justice of the peace,
mayor, or other officer, shall neglect doing their duty in execution
of this present Act, every such justice of the peace, mayor, and
other officer, shall, for every such neglect, forfeit the sum of one
hundred pounds, to be recovered by action of debt, bill, plaint,
or information, wherein no protection, essoin, or wages of law
shall be allowed of, nor but one imparlance, one moiety thereof
to the King's Majesty, his heirs and successors, the other moiety
to the informer, or person that shall sue for the same, and be
disabled from serving as a justice of the peace during his life.'

P.S. — The picture of ' Oar Lady of Gyor,' an illustration of
which accompanies Father Eyan's paper, is evidently of Spanish
origin, and most probably of the school of Spanish painters led
by Velazquez and Murillo. So far as can be judged by the illus-
tration, it is severely simple — such as the paintings at that period
in Spain, not intended for the Galeria Eeservada of Madrid,
were bound to bs. The bare head, sleek hair, elongated features,
chaste and simple robe, are all typical of that period of Spanish
art, and the pomegranate pattern on the coverlet is also a strong
testimony of its Spanish origin — the pomegranate (symbolic of
spiritual graces) being frequently used by Spanish artists in the
embellishment of their religious pictures and decoration of their
churches.

C. G. D.

[ 376 ]

NOTICES OF BOOKS

THE AMBASSADOE OF CHBIST. By Cardinal Gibbons.
Baltimore : Murphy & Co.

THE priest is called by God to labour for bis own sanctifica-
tion and for the sanctification of others. His success in the latter
will largely depend on the effort he puts forth to acquire the
former. He should, therefore, eagerly lay hold of whatever
tends to his personal sanctification. The young priest coming
forth from his Alma Mater may be pious, zealous, and well
equipped with theological knowledge, yet in many things regarding
the practical ways of men he is ' a stranger in a strange land.'
The eyes of the community are fixed on the exalted position in
which his sacred office places him, and however things may have
been in the past, it is now quite certain that, should occasion
arise, he will be subjected to a certain measure of unfavourable
criticism. During his college course he had the benefit of the
advice of experienced professors. To these he looked up with
confidence and reverence. But launched on the perilous sea of
life, he is deprived of the supports of college discipline, and he
requires a sincere and experienced counsellor to warn him of
the shoals and rocks to be avoided. Amongst his clerical brethren
it is not always easy to find one who is prepared to act the part
of the ' candid friend.' Experience proves that priests are rather
shy in telling a brother priest that he is acting imprudently.
Perhaps through humility they distrust their own judgment,
perhaps they fear that their admonition would be ill-received and
do little good. However it may be, it is quite certain that many
priests would be better from time to time to have someone to
' lead them aside from the crowd,' and recall to their minds what
is expected from the exalted dignity of their sacred profession.

Many very excellent books have been written to attain this
end. There are few young priests who have not in their library
Cardinal Manning's priceless Eternal Priesthood. Many priests
on the mission make it a rule to read this excellent treatise
once a year to remind them of the dignity and danger of their
sacred calling. The late saintly Vincentian, Father M'Namara,
has given the benefit of his varied experience in the ministry

NOTICES OF BOOKS 377

in the best and most practical of his works, the Enchiridion
Clericorum. The Selva of St. Ligouri has the recommendation
of being written by one not only of immense experience, but
by one who was also a master in the spiritual life. One would
have imagined that there was little room in the field for a new
work of similar character, and this was our opinion till we read
the very excellent work of Cardinal Gibbons, The Ambassador of
Christ. Occupying a position in the Church which gives him a
right to speak with authority, in the treatise before us he begins
at the beginning ' on the excellence of the Christian priesthood,'
and step by step, with master hand, he traces the path of the
priest to the end, where he dwells on the ' consolations and
rewards of the priest.' Writing for the American Church, where
life is more progressive than amongst us, he does not hesitate to
speak plainly to the student, the professor, and the priest on the
mission. To bring forth his model in bolder relief, he frequently
paints an emphatic shading, and, indeed, in this perhaps some-
times goes farther than one less exalted and experienced would
care to go. He illustrates his subject with a wealth of quotation
sacred and profane, which shows immense research. Besides, he
has ever at hand a fund of anecdotes and illustrations which are
the result of a long experience of men and things, and are always
to the point. This experience he applies well in tracing effects to
their cause. Thus in the chapter treating of the ' Divine Voca-
tion to the Sacred Ministry,' he says : —

' Are we not shocked in our own day by the sad spectacle of
degraded ministers of the Gospel, who have not only soiled their
sacred garments, but unblushingly glory in their shame before
the world ; who have not only forsaken the mother that reared
them, but who insult and villify her, who hire themselves for
a price to the enemy? How were these lights extinguished?
How did these ambassadors of Christ perish? Very probably
their downward course began in the seminary, where they led
an indolent and tepid life, without betraying, however, any
- evidence of glaring delinquencies. The day of ordination was
contemplated by them not with salutary dread on account of
the new yoke it imposed, but rather with joy as emancipating
them from seminary restraints, and inaugurating a reign of
mundane freedom. In the ministry they lived without order or
method. They prayed without devotion. Their official duties
were irksome and oppressive, and were performed in a perfunctory
manner. The studies congenial to the ecclesiastical state became
an intolerable bore. They lived on the excitement of the hour.

378 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

They were at first sustained by amusements which were harmless.
When these began to pall, they indulged in more stimulating and
dangerous pleasures. Meantime God's grace was less abundantly
bestowed on them ; their conscience became blunted, their
intellect clouded ; for " the sensual man perceiveth not these
things that are the Spirit of God." These Divine warnings which
before had stung the soul were brushed aside as weak-minded
scruples. To every fresh attack of temptation they offered a
more feeble resistance, till at last they fell easy and willing
captives to the tempter.'

In the chapter on 'Marks of a Divine Vocation ' we have a
rule of life so brief and simple that any priest on the mission may
ordinarily carry it out, and so practical that, if carried out, we
have no hesitation in saying that the zeal of the pastor would be
quickened, and he would speedily become a veritable ' homo
Dei.'

The treatment of the ' Duties of Preceptors towards their
Scholars ' is exceedingly good, spoken in a plain, matter-of-fact
style, which no doubt will be read attentively by that learned and
responsible body — our college professors. There is a conviction on
the mind of many missionary priests that the system in some of
our colleges is such as to put a premium on tale-bearing and
espionage. It is undoubtedly a fact that very frequently the
students who basked during their college days in the sunshine of
favour with superiors, became afterwards on the mission not the
' forma gregis ' which too confiding professors imagined they
would be. Our learned author says :—

' While the vigilance of superiors should be active in observing
and prompt in correcting, it should be entirely free from a spirit
of espionage and distrust, which is calculated to make hypocrites,
and to provoke the clandestine violation of rules. If the students
are persuaded that they are habitually suspected and watched,
they also will have their eye on their professors. They will take
a morbid pleasure in eating the forbidden fruit, in drinking the
" stolen waters, which are sweeter, and eating hidden bread,
which is more pleasant." I once heard of a professor, who
always pre-supposed that the students were untrustworthy until
they gave proof of virtue. The opposite rule, which assumes that
they are good until their vicious character is made manifest, is
certainly to be preferred.'

The Church has always been desirous to have an educated
priesthood. Learning is especially necessary for the priest in

NOTICES OF BOOKS 379

these days of free education. There is scarcely a congregation to
be found at the present time where a misquoted text or a gram-
matical error will not be detected by some of the audience. It
behoves the priest, therefore, to be a man of education. Cardinal
Gibbons is very forcible on this point ; he puts learning even
before piety.

' Piety [he says] in a priest, though indispensable, can never
be an adequate substitute for learning. He may have zeal, but
not the " zeal according to knowledge " which the Apostle com-
mends. Knowledge without piety may, indeed, make a Church-
man vain and arrogant, but piety without knowledge renders him
an unprofitable servant. The absence of piety makes him hurtful
to himself, but the absence of knowledge makes him a stumbling-
block to others. " I would prefer [says St. Teresa] to consult a
learned confessor who did not practise prayer rather than- a man
of prayer who was not learned, for the latter could not guide me
in the truth." An ill-instructed priesthood is the scourge of the
Church.'

Another point excellently treated by our learned author is the
preparation of sermons. A fluent speaker may be tempted to
give little or no preparation to his instructions. He is confident
that words shall not fail him, and frequent interruptions will
often make study irksome. We have it on excellent authority
that " sermons do good in proportion to the amount of study that
is given to their preparation." On this subject a very good
anecdote is told in the chapter on " The Preparation of
Sermons" : —

' Several years ago a certain clergyman delivered a discourse in
the Baltimore Cathedral, in presence of some distinguished
prelates, including Archbishop Hughes. At the dinner which
followed, the preacher remarked: "Upon my word, until I
entered the pulpit I had not determined on the subject of my
sermon." " I thought as much when I heard you," quietly
rejoined the Archbishop of New York.'

From the above quotations, selected almost at random, the
thoroughly practical character of The Ambassador of Christ may
be judged. It is a book which will be a valuable addition to the
library of the priest. If studied from time to time it will act the
part of a sincere friend, by recalling to mind the exalted dignity
of the priestly state, and ths serious obligations connected with
it.

F. L.

380 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH AS A WITNESS TO CATHOLIC
DOCTRINE. By John Salmon, M.E.S.AX, ' S. JV
Dublin : M. H. Gill & Son. Belfast and Glasgow : The
Catholic Book Co., &c.

ME. SALMON, the learned author of this work, has been long
known to the reading public in Belfast, and in Ulster generally,
as ' S. J.,' the doughty champion of Catholic doctrines and
Catholic practices against all and sundry who dared assail them.
His original and highly interesting work on the Eound Towers of
Ireland, published a few years ago, and favourably received by
all who take an interest in these hoary puzzles of the learned,
made his name, or at least his nom de plume, known far beyond
the confines of the Northern province. The present work is
addressed to a still more numerous class, and will, we venture
to predict, introduce his name to every student of Irish history,
and to every Irishman, whether in Ireland or elsewhere, who
glories in the close union that has ever subsisted between the See
of Sfc. Peter and the Church of St. Patrick.

Many impudent, unjust, and unfounded claims have Irish
Protestants made since Browne (who, like Luther, was an apostate
Augustinian monk) was thrust into the see of Dublin. They
claimed our cathedrals and our churches ; they claimed our
abbeys and our abbeylands, and a Protestant Government allowed
and defended their claims. They claimed a right to compel
Catholics to support their clergy, whose chief occupation con-
sisted in vilifying and calumniating all that Catholics held most
sacred ; and this claim, too, did the Government allow and enforce,
even to the shedding of blood. But undoubtedly the most
impudent, the most unjust, and the most unfounded claim they
have ever made is the claim to our national apostle as the
founder of Protestantism in Ireland. Yes, think of it ! ' St.
Patrick was an Episcopalian,' say the followers of Cranmer and
Eidley ; ' a Presbyterian,' shout the disciples of Calvin and Knox ;
and both in chorus cry out, ' the early Irish Church had no con-
nection with Eome, and her doctrines and practices were not
those of the Church of Rome !' It is hard to write temperately
of claims like these, which not only have no foundation, but
which are rejected, implicitly at least, by every written record
of the early Irish Church. But out of evil has come forth
good. Just as the doctrinal heresies which have sprung up

NOTICES OF BOOKS 381

in the course of ages compelled the champions of orthodoxy
to examine the rejected dogmas more closely, to explain them
more fully, and to establish them more firmly ; so has this
historical heresy compelled Irish Catholic writers to summon
from hitherto unexplored regions witnesses to the truth of
the Eoman mission of St. Patrick, and of the connection of the
early Irish Church with the Eoman See. • This work has been
going on, though with interruptions, since the time of Ussher, so
that Mr. Salmon has been able to embody in his book not merely
the results of his own original researches, but also the results of
the labours in the same field of ahost of distinguished writers who
had gone before him. As a consequence, Mr. Salmon's book is
not only the best book on this subject that has yet been written ;
but it so riddles and ridicules the Protestant pretensions that, in
future, no Protestant — unless one who glories in his ignorance —
can afford to say, as the late Eight Hon. Justice Whiteside
said on one occasion, ' I maintain that the Protestant Church in
Ireland preserves the old, ancient, true Catholic faith established
by St. Patrick.'

The plan of the book is very simple, though at the same time
strictly logical. The author says in effect to Irish Protestants :
You maintain that the early Irish Church was Protestant. If
this were so then we must expect to find that she rejected those
doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church which you reject.
If, however, we find that she did not reject these doctrines and
practices, you are bound to abandon your claim to be regarded as
her successor. And if, moreover, we find she not only did
not reject the doctrines and practices which you reject, but, on
the contrary, held them in the same esteem and reverence in
which they were held in Rome itself, and in Churches undoubtedly
connected with Rome, then you will be bound to admit that the
early Irish Church was a part of the Universal Church in com-
munion with Eome.

To show in a clear and orderly manner that the ancient Irish
Church did not reject, but embraced, what Protestants reject of
Catholic teaching, the author takes up one by one the
dogmas, and the chief points in Catholic discipline which Pro-
testants reject, and with a wealth of apposite quotation from the
most varied and most reliable sources, proves conclusively that
the dogmas rejected by Protestants, and the disciplinary canons
at which they sneer, were received as reverently in the Irish

382 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Church of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries as they
are by Irish Catholics in the nineteenth. The fullest references
are given by the author to the sources whence his information is
derived ; and the character and variety of these sources show
the intelligent and painstaking research which he must have
made in preparation for his work. The quotations are given in
English in the text, but in order to enable the hostile or friendly
reader to compare the translation with the original, the latter is
given in a footnote.

The author devotes the first chapter to proving that the Canon
of Scripture introduced by St. Patrick, and received in the early
Irish Church, was the Catholic, not the Protestant Canon. In
this he has an easy task, for Protestant and Presbyterian writers
while claiming St. Patrick as their own, are forced to admit that
' he cites as divinely inspired Scripture passages from the Apocry-
pha or deutero-canonical books, "to use the words of Dr. Dowden,
Protestant Bishop of Edinburgh, quoted by the author. In
the succaeding chapters the author shows that the authority of
the Church was recognised in Ireland during the early centuries,
as it was in the other Catholic countries of the world ; that the
supremacy of the Pope was admitted ; that each of the seven
Sacraments was regarded as a divinely-instituted means of con-
ferring grace ; that the doctrines of purgatory and of saint-
worship were taught ; that an extraordinary devotion towards
the Blessed Virgin characterized the early Christians in Ireland ;
that relics and images were venerated ; that fasting and other
forms of mortification were practiced ; and finally, that the sign
of the Cross, holy water, incense, blessed palm, and several other
4 idolatries' and ' superstitions,' and very un-Protestant practices
were in use in the Irish Church long before Dane or Norman set
hostile foot on our shores, and while Irish schools dispensed
without fee both learning and hospitality to crowds of students
from England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and even from
Rome itself. It is obviously impossible to enter into detail with
regard to the proofs which our author advances : we will,
therefore, content ourselves with] saying that they are clear,
concise, and absolutely convincing, and present no weak point to
invite an adversary's attack. But just to illustrate, not so much
the kind of arguments which our author uses throughout, as the
audacity of Protestants, who, despite the existence of such monu-
ments, dare to claim the early Irish Church as the mother of

NOTICES OF BOOKS 383

Irish Protestantism, we will refer to a very un-Protestant, but
nevertheless extremely beautiful Litany of the Blessed Virgin
which the author translates from the Leabhar Breac, and which
0' Curry declares to be as old at least as the middle of the eighth
century. When a translation of this Litany was presented to
Pius IX. in 1862 he granted 100 days' indulgence to all who
should recite it. If a Litany composed of the titles which Irish
Protestants, at least of the ignorant class, sometimes apply to
our Blessed Lady, were presented to Leo XIII. , would he grant
an indulgence to induce people to recite it ?

As Mr. Salmon's book deals throughout with Catholic teach-
ing and practices, it required and has received due ecclesiastical
authorization. It bears the imprimatur of the Most. Rev. Dr.
Henry, Bishop of Down and Connor, and the nihil obstat of the
Eev. H. Laverty. We heartily wish it the success it deserves,
and we congratulate the erudite author on the completion of his
work, which, though small in bulk, is large in merit.

D. O'L.

SERMONS AND LECTURES. By the Eev. Michael B. Buckley,

of Cork, Ireland. Edited by his Sister, Kate Buckley.

With a Memoir of his Life by the Rev. Charles Davis,

Skibbereen, diocese of Eoss. Dedicated to the Irish

people at home and abroad. Published for the Editress

in Great Britain, Ireland, United States, and Canada.

Dublin : Sealy, Bryers & Walker, 1890.

THE labour of transcribing such a title-page would go hard

on the temper of most critics ; and for ourselves, though we have

borne the trial with patience, we think there is room, on other

grounds, for finding fault with one of the chief facts which

the page records. We do not commend the notion of a lady

editing sermons; we object to it on principle; and, while the

devotion of a sister to the memory of a reverend and justly

revered brother may be a reason for respecting her good faith

in assuming the office, we do not think it sufficient to exclude a

word of discouragement in deference to the principle.

It is hard to have begun so severely, but in the pages that
follow we find cause for relaxing. The volume contains, in all,
twenty-eight sermons, and six lectures. They are only the
scattered remains of their reverend author, and it is easy to see
they were never written with a view to publication. Of the

384 NOTICES OF BOOKS

sermons, which are printed almost entirely as they were preached,
some were delivered on special occasions for special objects ; and,
though their utility is thus limited, they are nevertheless really
useful as successful specimens in their particular lines. More of
them, however, are on the staple subjects of all Christian preach-
ing. All exhibit the same [characteristics. Their merits are
striking thought, clear and cogent argument, eloquent and
forcible expression; in a word, all the ordinary essentials for
highly successful preaching, as far as paper and ink can repro-
duce them ; and we can well understand how, in the mouth of
such a preacher as Father Buckley, these sermons must have
gone home with telling effect to the minds and hearts of his
hearers. Of their faults we abstain from speaking, both because
it is ungenerous to seek out petty faults where larger merits
overshadow them, and because these sermons were written not
to be criticized, but to be preached. Of the lectures we need say
little. In genesis they were occasional, but their subjects are
of permanent interest, and in style and treatment they exemplify
all the chief perfections of the popular lecturer.

The memoir prefixed from the pen of Father Davis is an
appreciative tribute to Father Buckley's memory by an old-time
friend who was also an affectionate and admiring friend. In the
life of Father Buckley there was nothing exceptional more than
in the lives of thousands of priests who spend themselves daily
in the work of God's ministry, nothing'but a superior brilliancy,
the outcome of superior gifts carefully cultivated, and usefully
applied. To those who may have known him and prized him
for his worth, or been edified by his zeal and eloquence, this
volume will recommend itself as a memento of the man, and
to the general public it ought to prove acceptable for the sole
merit of its contents.

P.J.T.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF
IRELAND l

III.

HE ' Eastern Origin' of the Irish Church is a
fundamental article in Mr. Olden's theory; and
his aim in propounding this view is to avoid
Rome at any cost. He admits that ' all
Christianity originated in the East, and gradually reached
the West,'2 but, whatever may have been the intermediate
stations on its westward course to Ireland, according to
Mr. Olden, Eome was not one of them. ' Not from
Rome, but from the East,' is his axiom.3 But even
though all this were as true as it is notoriously untrue,
the gain to Mr. Olden's theory would be simply nothing.
Rome has been, ever since St. Peter's time, as she is to-day,
' the mother and mistress of all the Churches ;' and
consequently, it matters absolutely nothing whether
Christianity first reached Ireland from Malabar or from
Manitoba : it was Roman all the same.

But Mr. Olden's view has, he thinks, one very special
recommendation. ' It makes a considerable difference,' he
says, 'whether it passed westward through the capital of
the Empire, or arrived by way of the remote province of
Southern Gaul.' This is most ingenious. Mr. Olden seems

1 The Church of Ireland, by T. Olden, M.A.
by John Healy, LL.D. London, 1892.

2 Church of Ireland, p. 100.

3 Page 130.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I. — MAY, 1897.

The Ancient Church of Ireland,

2B

386 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

to regard Christianity as a bale of goods, certain to be
adulterated in the Eoman custom house, but likely to fare
better if sent by way of Southern Gaul, ' which,' he says,
* would pass it on much as it received it.'1 Clearly he has
taken in fully the spirit of the 19th of his Articles ; but in
this instance he has carried it to imprudent length. For, if
Christianity was thus left by its Divine Founder a prey to
circumstances, if it ran such risk of corruption in the first
century of its existence, what guarantee has Mr. Olden that
he is himself a Christian ? What guarantee has he that he
holds even one genuine doctrine of Christianity ? He is not
discreet then in seeking to inflict on Rome a wound which
must equally affect the whole body of Christian Revelation.
Here, then, we have a gentleman whose own Christianity is
on his own principles, extremely doubtful, writing a history
of Early Irish Christianity. His theory has, he candidly
admits, 'produced a special type of Christianity,'3 which
has certainly found a ' special type ' of historian in
Mr. Olden. He tells us that ' it is antecedently probable ' that
Ireland ' received its Christianity from the East, through
Gaul ;' — the grounds of this probability being that 'the people
of that region (Southern Gaul) were a colony from Asia
Minor, and Polycarp, its first Bishop, came directly from
thence.' 3

Now, what is to be thought of one who undertakes to
write an Irish ecclesiastical history, and who exhibits the
gross ignorance displayed in this short sentence ? St.
Polycarp is one of the most celebrated characters in early
ecclesiastical history. His extraordinary life, his fearless
championship of the faith, his cruel martyrdom, and the
heroic constancy displayed by him in his suffering are known
to every schoolboy- And yet this would-be historian, who
enlightens the ' Dictionary of National Biography ' on the
most obscure points of Church history, does not know the
broad facts of the life of the great Bishop of Smyrna,
St. Polycarp, ' first bishop ' of Southern Gaul ! Indeed !
No, St. Polycarp never set foot on Gaul ; was never bishop

i Page 131. 2 Page 1:J2. 8 Page 131.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND B87

there ; did not come there ' directly ' or indirectly. St.
Polycarp came once to Borne to consult Pope Aniceto on
the Paschal question. This one visit was the beginning
and the ending of his westward journey ings. And this visit
of the saint to Borne is in reality a refutation of Mr. Olden's
theory. For he would not have come all the way from Asia
Minor to Borne to consult the Pope if he' did not believe him
to be an authority superior to the many holy and learned
bishops whom he could have found nearer home. And this
is confirmed by the testimony of St. Irenaeus, Polycarp's
well-known disciple, who, of all the early fathers, is the
most pronounced witness to the Bornan Primacy. Thus,
then, Mr. Olden's first step in tracing the westward
march of Christianity is for him an unfortunate step, for
his witness against Borne is in reality a witness against
himself.

And his second step is equally unfortunate. He says :
' Bev. F. E. Warren gives some of the evidence for the
'Eastern Origin,' and its cumulative force is considerable.'1
Now, Bev. F. E. Warren rejects-Mr^ Olden's view, and holds
that the arguments in its favour have no ' force,' and he
adduces the arguments merely to save that view from the
severe criticism of Mr. Haddan, who describes it as "utterly
groundless.'2 And no wonder that Mr. Haddan should
speak so strongly seeing that the ' cumulative force ' is
supplied by ' groups of seven Churches,' by the architectural
views of Prof. Fergusson — who did not build the Catholic
Church — by the 'ornamentation of Irish manuscripts;' by
' the stamped leather satchels in which the Irish enclosed their
books ;' and by the ' pegs on which these satchels were
hung ;' 3 All these are, of course, incompatible with the
Primacy of the Pope, and establish beyond doubt the
genealogy of that ' special type of Christianity,' of which
Mr. Olden is so appropriate, so competent a historian.

Another argument of ' cumulative force ' is supplied,
Mr. Olden tells us, by the ancient Irish liturgies. It is true,
he admits, that ' no service book of the period has come

1 Page 1M, * Haddan's Rjmains, p. 210. 3 1'ages 132, 1S-3.

388 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

down to us ;' l but this somewhat inconvenient circum-
stance only gives freer scope to Mr. Olden's imagination.
For men of his class, it is much more safe to appeal to a
'lost book,' which can be misrepresented, than to an existing
book which can speak for itself. He says : ' Mr. Warren
traces the Irish liturgies to an Ephesine source in accord-
ance with the Eastern Origin of the Church.' 2

Now, Mr. Warren sums up ' the scattered traces of
Oriental influence in the remains of Celtic liturgy and
ritual ;' and adds in a note, ' very early western authority
can be found for most of these ritual Orientalisms, in the
representations in the Catacombs, or in early Italian
mosaics. All that they prove, therefore, is the Oriental
origin of the Celtic Church in common with the rest of
Western Christianity? The force of this argument for
Mr. Olden's theory is not very considerable. And, in reality, if
Mr. Olden had known any thing of Oriental Liturgies he would
have been carefully silent as to the 'Eastern Origin' of the
' Irish Church.' Is he prepared for the logical consequences
of his theory ? If so, he must be prepared to accept
doctrines and practices that have been long repudiated by
the Church to which he is supposed to belong. He will
riot find the Oriental Churches so pliable as his own. One of
the most extraordinary phenomena in ecclesiastical history
is the tenacity with which those Eastern Churches have
clung to the doctrines held by them at the time of their
separation from communion with the West. Where they
were fourteen hundred years ago there they are to-day:
heretical on the point which is known to be the original
cause of their separation ; in almost all other doctrines
unchanged through every phase of their history. And their
liturgies afford the best evidence as to their doctrines.
The " lex supplicandi " is the " lex credendi," with these,
as with all religious bodies. The liturgy is, of course,
concerned with the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion. The sub-
division of what is popularly, though incorrectly, called the

J- Tage 139 e Page 139, 3 Celtic Liturgy, p. 55.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 389

Eastern Church, into several independent religious bodies,
has given rise to several forms of liturgy, all, however, or
nearly all, substantially agreeing in essentials, but with
considerable variation in detail, as to prayers and the
arrangement of the various parts. This agreement in the
essentials of Consecration and Communion suggests a unity
of origin. The several liturgies must 'have come from a
few original forms — most probably from some one common
form. The Apostles who witnessed the first consecration
by our Lord, and who heard His command, " Do this in
commemoration of Me," would, naturally, adhere as closely
as circumstances permitted to the words and actions of their
Divine Master, when offering the Holy Sacrifice. Develop-
ments in liturgy, as in doctrine, would, under the guidance
of the Holy Ghost, no doubt occur, but our Lord's words
and action would be the groundwork. And so we find it, on
examining the ancient liturgies. In all (with one un-
important exception), we find, after some preparatory
prayers, our Lord's words of Institution repeated in the
solemn act of Consecration ; a prayer to the Holy Ghost
that the sacred words may be verified ; a form of Holy
Communion that leaves no room for doubt as to the faith of
the receiver in our Lord's real presence; and a prayer of
thanksgiving, that is equally decisive as a confirmation of
that faith.

In connection with the ' words of institution/ sometimes
words are added or interpolated, which, however unwarranted,
do not alter the sense of our Lord's own words. The one
example alluded to above is an early Nestorian liturgy from
which the words of institution are omitted. But Eenaudot
maintains that the omission is the fault of transcribers,
and the other portions of the liturgy show that the Real
Presence is believed.

The Ephesine liturgy, to which Mr. Olden appeals, cannot
now be called as a witness, for it does not exist. There is
really no proof that it ever existed ; but if it did, at any time,
exist as a separate liturgy, it must have embodied those
elements above named that are common to all the other
liturgies of the East. The earliest trace of a formal liturgy

390 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

is that contained in St. Justin's apology, which, however,
is necessarily obscure, from the circumstances in which he
wrote ; and it may be also safely asserted that the Christian
liturgy is alluded to in Pliny's letter to Trajan. The earliest
Eastern liturgies are those of St. James, of St. Mark,
of St. Clement, of St. Basil, and of St. John Chrysostom.
The first three named are certainly the earliest, but it is
difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine which is the most
ancient. Mr. Neale's observation seems to be reasonable.
He says :—

I shall content myself with assuming — (1) that these liturgies,
though not composed by the Apostles whose names they bear,
were the legitimate development of their unwritten tradition
respecting the Christian sacrifice ; the words probably in the
most important parts, the general tenour in all portions, descending
unchanged from the Apostolic authors. (2) That the liturgy of
St. James is of earlier date, as to its main fabric, than A.D. 200 ;
that the Clementine is at least not later than A.D. 260 ; that the
liturgy of St. Mark is nearly coeval with that of St. James ;
while those of St. Basil and Sb. Chrysostom are to be referred
respectively to the saints by whom they purport to be composed. 1

Some eminent writers maintain that the Clementine
liturgy is as early as the close of the second century. But
whatever be the relative ages of the liturgies referred to,
they are all sufficiently old to test Mr. Olden's theory, and
sufficiently explicit to condemn it.

The liturgy of St. James, so venerable for its antiquity,
exists now in a Greek and Syriac version. The Greek form
is used at Jerusalem only on the feast of St. James, and is
used also in some of the islands of the Grecian Archipelago.
The Syriac form is used still by the Monophysites of the
Patriarchate of Antioch. In the form of Consecration in
this Liturgy the Words .of Institution are embodied as
follows : —

Taking bread in His holy and spotless and pure hands, and
looking up to heaven, and showing it to Thee, His God and
Father, He gave Thee thanks, and blessed, and brake, and gave
to us, His apostles and disciples, saying : — ' Take cat ; this is My

1 Holy Eastern Church, vol. i., p. 319.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 391

body which is broken for you, and is given for the remission of sins.'
Likewise, also, the chalice, after supper, having taken and mixed
it with wine and water, and having looked up to heaven and
showed it to Thee, His God and Father, He gave thanks, and
blessed, and gave it to us, His disciples, saying : — ' Drink ye all
of this, this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for
you, and for many, and distributed for the remission of sins. Do
this in remembrance of Me?

And at the Elevation, the priest says, aloud, words that
are common to nearly all the Eastern liturgies, ' Holy for
the Holy; ' and the people answer, ' One holy, one Lord Jesus
Christ,' thus specifying their belief in the words of the
priest, ' Holy for the Holy.' The priest then breaks part of
the Host into the chalice, and says : — ' The union of the
Most Holy Body and Precious Blood of our Lord and God
and Saviour, Jesus Christ.' And then, making a cross over
the Host, he says, ' Behold ! the Lamb of God, the Son of
the Father, who taketh away the sins of the world, sacrificed
for the life and salvation of the world. He that is broken,
and not divided, given to the faithful and not consumed. . .
Lord, our God, the Heavenly Bread.' And, after the Com-
munion, the following prayer is said: — 'We give Thee
thanks, 0 Christ, our God, that Thou hast deigned to
make us partakers of Thy Body and Blood.' Surely no
language could more clearly express belief in the real presence
of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament than the language of
this most ancient Liturgy.

The liturgy of St. Mark, now disused in its original
form, was formerly used throughout the whole Patriarchate
of Alexandria. At the Consecration, the words of institu-
tion are used, with additional words, nearly the same as those
added in the liturgy of St. James. An invocation of the
Holy Ghost follows, praying that the words of institution
may be verified. The Elevation takes place with the usual
words, ' Holy for the Holy.' At the Communion the words,
' Holy Body,' &c., and ' the Precious Blood of our Lord God
and Saviour,' are said by the priest, and the communicant
assents by the usual word, ' Amen.' The prayer of thanks-
giving follows, in which the communicant returns thanks
for the ' participation of Thy spotless Body and Precious

392 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Blood,' ifcc. There is no mistaking the faith in the Blessed
Sacrament that finds such emphatic expression in this
venerable liturgy.

Many high authorities hold, that the liturgy contained
in the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, and
attributed to St. Clement, is even more ancient than the
liturgies already quoted. There are many who say that
there is no evidence of its actual use as a liturgy ; but, even
though this were true, it is still a most ancient and reliable
witness as to the character of the great liturgical Act of
the Christian Church. The words of consecration are
given nearly the same as in the liturgy of St. James ; then
follows the ' Invocation.' and the ' Holy for the Holy.' At
the Communion the Bishop says : ' The Body of Christ,'
' The Blood of Christ,' and the people assent by saying
'Amen.' A prayer of thanksgiving follows thus : ' Having
received the precious Body and precious Blood of Christ, let
us return thanks to Him who has vouchsafed that we should
receive His holy mysteries,' &c. These extracts are all
taken from the Greek text of the Eastern Liturgies edited
by Brightman, a writer as little liable to any prejudice in
favour of Catholic doctrine as even Mr. Olden himself; and
as the book has been published within the past year,
and at the Clarendon Press, it may be fairly presumed to
contain a good text, and to embody the latest results of
criticism. And this circumstance gives additional weight
to the evidence supplied by these liturgies in favour of
Catholic doctrines.

It is quite unnecessary to quote the liturgies of
St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom. They are still living
witnesses to the faith which inspired their composition.
Both liturgies are, in reality, modifications of that of
St. James, and they may be said to prevail almost exclu-
sively in the East. That of St. Chrysostom is used in
Eussia and its dependencies ; not in Greek, however, but in
Sclavonic, also by the Euthenians, and in other parts of
South Eastern Europe. It is used in the Kingdom of
Greece, and in its dependencies ; and in all those places that
are subject to the Patriarchate of Constantinople by schis-

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 393

matics as well as Catholics. It is also used by the Melchites
in the Patriarchate of Antioch, and by the united Greeks
in Northern Africa, and in Southern Italy. The liturgy
of St. Basil is used in nearly the same places, but on
certain exceptional days. And as these rites are used
by Catholics in full communion with Rome, no question
need be asked as to the doctrine' to which they bear
witness.

The Nestorian liturgies, derived from that of St. James,
and the Coptic liturgies, derived from St. Mark's, all agree
in the general characteristics of the other Eastern liturgies
already referred to. Rev. M. Badger in his History of the
Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. ii., p. 169, after quoting
very fully from the text of the liturgy, says : ' The above
extracts most unequivocally prove, that the Nestorians
believe the Supper of the Lord to be a real partaking of the
Body and Blood of Christ, and not a bare sign of Christian
discipleship. According to them, the Sacrament of the
Holy Eucharist is the sign not of an absent thing, but of
the real presence of the Saviour.' And Butler in his
Ancient Coptic Churches, vol. ii., p. 296, says : 'The doctrine
of the Real Presence, of the change of the bread and wine
into the very Body and Blood of our Lord, is held by the
Copts in its most physical literalness.' Some Protestant
writers quote against the Real Presence and transubstantia-
tiori a Jacobite liturgy, The Ethiopia Canon (of which probably
Mr. Olden knows nothing), on the ground, that at the
Consecration the words are : This bread is My Body, this
cup is My Blood. But the very liturgy which seems to
supply the argument most effectually disproves it ; for at
the Communion, the priest says: ' This is the Body, holy,
true, of our Lord, our God and Saviour Jesus Christ,' and
' This is the Blood, precious, true, of our Lord, our God and
Saviour, Jesus Christ;' and the people answer: 'Amen.'
The priest then continues : 'Amen, for this is the Body and
Blood of Emmanuel, our very God. Amen, I believe, I believe,
I believe, and confess unto the last breath, that this is the
Body and Blood of our Lord our God, and our Saviour
Jesus Christ, which He took of our Lady, the holy and pure

394 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Virgin Mary.'1 This liturgy is clearly a two-edged sword
in the hands of a Protestant.

Now all these venerable liturgies teach the Catholic
doctrine on the Real Presence, and on the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass as clearly, as unmistakably as it is contained in
the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent. Our
Lord's own words are used at Consecration ; the adoration
by the people shows that they believed in His Real Presence
after Consecration : the words used in giving and receiving,
Holy Communion express the same faith, and it is still
farther confirmed by the prayers of thanksgiving. There is
therefore, no room left for doubt or equivocation as to the
faith which these venerable liturgies teach. Is Mr. Olden
prepared to accept that teaching as the logical consequence
of his appeal to them ? Does his ' Church of Ireland ' accept
that teaching? The Articles of that Church, which
Mr. Olden is bound to teach, and is supposed to believe,
supply the answer : a most emphatic No. She does not,
and never did teach it ; and she will not allow Mr. Olden to
teach it, in the very improbable supposition of his attempt-
ing to do so. No doubt the ' Words of Institution ' are
used in the Communion Service ; but besides the fact, that
the words are used by one who has no power to consecrate,
an explanation is added which robs them of their proper
meaning. The communicant is reminded that he is 'receiv-
ing these thy creatures of bread and wine? He is invited
to ' take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died ' for
him ; to ' drink in remembrance,' &c. And the Twenty-
eighth Article tells him, that 'Transubstantiation ... is
repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, and overthroweth
the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many
superstitions . . . the body of Christ is given, eaten, and
taken in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual
manner ;' not therefore really taken at all. And the Thirty-
first Article further informs him that 'the Sacrifices of
Masses were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.'
And lest the communicant may, after all this precaution, be

1 Brahman, Easier Liturgies, p. 238.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 395

unduly reverent, he is reminded by a declaration that reads
like a police magistrate's warrant, that though he receives
kneeling, ' it is hereby declared, that thereby no adoration is
intended, or ought to be done, either unto the sacramental
bread or wine there bodily received, or unto any corporal
presence of Christ's natural flesh and blood.' Nothing
therefore can be more clear than, that Mr. Olden's Church
of Ireland has apostatized from the faith of the Eastern
Churches regarding the great central act of Christian
worship. Those Eastern Churches, schismatic as well as
orthodox, have always believed in the holy sacrifice of the
Mass, and in our Lord's Eeal Presence in the Blessed
Eucharist. Mr. Olden's Church of Ireland, inconsistent
in almost everything, has been consistent and persistent in
her rejection, in'her hatred of this doctrine. Again, then,
Mr. Olden's own witnesses bear testimony against him,
and condemn him.

The Oriental liturgies and rituals also, supply abun-
dant proof of the antiquity of many other Catholic doctrines,
such as devotion to the Blessed Virgin, prayers for the
dead, the number and nature of the sacraments, all which
Mr. Olden's Church rejects and condemns. And yet this
upstart of yesterday, with a false crest and a forged pedigree,
claims direct descent from that venerable early Church
whose doctrines she has abandoned, whose devotional
practices she has libelled and ridiculed, and whenever she
had the power, sternly and cruelly suppressed. But in thus
appealing to St. Polycarp and to the early liturgies Mr. Olden
seems to forget that it was not in St. Polycarp's time, but
two hundred years later that St. Patrick came to Ireland.
And, therefore, the proper course for one like him who
admits the baneful effect of time on theology — one who is
fallible in theory as well as in practice — is to determine
what was the faith in Gaul when St. Patrick came thence
to Ireland. St. Martin, St. German, St. Hilary, St. Lupus,
are competent, reliable witnesses, on this point. They were
the great teachers of St, Patrick's time, and they remain
amongst the foremost champions of Roman primacy.

Mr. Olden's appeal, then, to Eastern liturgies refutes

396 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

his theory of ' Eastern origin.' He is a stranger to tbe
faith which those liturgies teach. He wants the key to
their interpretation. He accordingly misunderstands them,
misrepresents them. What can he know of Jerusalem,
being a Samaritan? But in treating of the Reformation
he ought to be more at home. In it he lives, and moves,
and has his being. He ought to know its history, its spirit,
its literature. And yet his views on it are but the old, old
story, awkwardly told. The Church in Ireland had been
completely 'Romanized,' that is, corrupted. Henry VIII.,
in the discharge of his mission as head of the Church in
spirituals as well as in temporals, undertook to reform us.
He sent some zealous missionaries, clerical and lay, amongst
us. Nearly all the bishops, and most of the better class
of Irishmen, gladly received the New Gospel and submitted
to the new head of the Church in Parliament and out of it ;
and our reformation would have been whole and perfect had
not Henry fallen a victim, too early, to his zeal and apostolic
labours. Edward VI., a sickly boy, was unable to do much
for our spiritual wants, but Elizabeth completed the good
work of her saintly father, and when by her and by her
godly agents all Roman accretions were swept away,
Mr. Olden's ' Church ' stood forth in all its glory and
beauty, the legitimate heir of the Early Irish Church, her
continuity unbroken, her doctrine and discipline the same
as St. Patrick himself had left us. This would be a consol-
ing theory for Mr. Olden if it had even a semblance of truth.
It is, however, a forlorn hope now for this writer, or for any
writer to attempt to white-wash the so-called Reformation
and its agents in Ireland. And it is difficult to comprehend
the audacity of those who call the outburst of bad passions
in the sixteenth century by the name of Reformation, and
who, while professing to write its history, pass over all the
crimes and scandals that mark every step of its progress
amongst us. Reformation, indeed ! What bitter memories
start up to the Irish Catholic on the mere mention of that
much perverted word ?

Their plundered homes, their ruined shrines . . .
Their priesthood hunted down like wolves, their country
overthrown.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 397

This is the Eeformation which Mr. Olden cautiously
ignores — very unwisely, however, for the State Papers are
there, now accessible to all, to give their cruel, merciless, and
damning evidence against Mr. Olden's apostles. The word
Eeformation implies improvement. And in what depart-
ment, religious, moral, or material, were the people improved
by the spiritual agents of Henry and Elizabeth ? Truths
revealed by God were repealed by a Parliament venal,
corrupt, and cowardly ; priests and bishops who had broken
their vows were sent to sow the seeds of scandal amongst
our people, and our people were plundered to support and
pamper the evil-doers. If this be Eeformation, no doubt we
have had over-doses of it in Ireland. Browne, Staples,
Bale, Curwen, and Loftus, are the spiritual fathers of
Mr. Olden's Church, and the original sin of her descent
from them is indelible on her brow. The whole history of
these men shows how little the souls of Irishmen concerned
them. To secure and amass property was their sole aim.
To gratify their unholy ambition whole provinces were
made desolate ; blood flowed in torrents, and famine
stalked through the land, and still the apostolic cry was
for fresh measures of repression, additional penal laws.
So grossly indifferent were they to clerical duties that
Henry VIIL, bad as he was, had to censure Browne and
Staples for their misconduct, and like charges were brought
against their spiritual guides by Elizabeth's ministers,
Sydney, Spenser, and Mountjoy. And Mr. Olden's ' Church
of Ireland ' is just what these men made her — a creature of
the State, a time-server, without mission, jurisdiction or
orders, with no more a Divine authority than an Insurance
Company or a Poor Law Board.

When Henry VIIL sought to get the Irish to acknow-
ledge him as Pope, Mr. Olden tells us that ' it was important
that such a proposal should be made by one of high position
and character.' 1 In almost consecutive lines he tells us
that George Browne, the new Apostle, was a ' Dominican
monk ' and a ' Provincial of the Augustinian Order.' This,

1 Page 295.

398

however, is only a specimen of Mr. Olden's predominant
passion for misquotation. Browne was an Augustinian, and
no credit to that body ; but there was a Judas among the
Apostles. Browne's mission was to get the Irish to renounce
Papal Supremacy, and to accept in its stead the divine
headship of Henry VIII. ; also to confiscate the property of
the Beligious Orders, to fill the King's exchequer, and to
glut the greed of his agents, lay and clerical, in Ireland.
He soon found that his mission was not an easy one.
Dr. Cromer, the Primate, would not listen to any change,
Browne says in a letter to Cromwell, and nearly all the
bishops were of the same view. The priests, regular and
secular, were equally obstinate, and ' the common people,'
he says, ' of this Island are more zealous in their blindness
than the saints and martyrs were in the truth in the
beginning of the Gospel."1 He then suggests the holding
of a Parliament, in order that his own zeal and eloquence
may be rendered more persuasive by the gentle stimulant of
penal laws. The Parliament was called ; it was completely
packed. No member was summoned from an Irish district,
and no one of Irish blood and birth would be allowed to sit
in it, even if elected. The clerical proctors, from whom
opposition was anticipated, were carefully excluded. Even
Mr. Olden admits the character of this ' reforming' Parlia-
ment. ' The Parliament was essentially English, for no
native Irish layman could sit in it.'2 This Parliament
would have repealed the ' Ten Commandments ' had Henry
so ordered. Of course, Papal Supremacy was set aside, and
an Act passed declaring that ' the King, his heirs, and
successors, should be supreme head on earth, of the
Church of Ireland.' 3 Mr. Olden's ' Church ' has reason to
be proud of its first Head and of its first founders. No one
knew better than Dr. Browne that Henry would never have
figured as Head of any Church if the Pope would only
consent to his divorce. The motive, therefore, was not
very exalted, and Browne's argument in the Parliament was
worthy of this motive. ' He that will not pass this Act, as

1 Sept. 6, A.D. 1535. 2 Page 297. 3 Page 292.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 399

I do, is no true subject of his Highness/ said the new
reformer. And so too said the Jewish rabble on a more
memorable occasion. And this conduct is in strict accord-
ance with Browne's character as drawn by his own colleagues,
who knew him best. He was a priest, vowed to celibacy,
and yet he lived in concubinage, as did also his brother-
reformers, Staples, Bale, and Lancaster. And it must be
borne in mind that in thus giving loose reins to their
passions the clerical reformers in Henry's time ran serious
risks of incurring the displeasure of the ' Supreme Head,'
who though not over rigid in his own case, would tolerate
no departure from celibacy in his priests and bishops. This
is clear from a letter of Henry to the Lord Deputy on
October 8th, A.D. 1542. The devices by which their Lord-
ships evaded Henry's law are more ingenious than creditable,
if we are to believe Harpsfield, Archdeacon of Canterbury,
who wrote at the time. He says : —

Against these kind of marriages, and maintenance of the
same, King Henry in his later days made very sharp laws,
whereupon many so married put over their women to servants,
and other friends, who kept them as to bed and board, as their
own wives. And after the death of King Henry they received
them again with usury ; that is, the children in the mean season
begotten by the said friends, whom they took, called, and brought
up as their own, as it was well known, as well in others, as in
Browne, Archbishop of Dublin.2

Whether it was for his incontinence, or for neglect of
duty, it is clear that Mr. Olden's ' eminent divine of character
and position ' did not come up to the expectations of the
Supreme Head. Henry wrote to him, July 31st, 1537 :—

The good opinion that we had conceived of you is in
manner utterly frustrated, ... all virtue and honesty is almost
banished from you. Eeform yourself therefore with this gentle
advertisement, and do your duty towards God . . . and let it
sink into your remembrance, that we be as able for the not doing
thereof to remove you again ... as we were at the beginning to
prefer you.

A document of like character was sent to Staples on the
same day.

1 Harpsfield on Marnages.

400 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Browne's reply is an admirable illustration of his
' position and character.' He tells Henry, in all humility,
that he has got his letter, ' which perused did not only
cause me to take fruitful and gracious monitions, but also
made me to tremble in body, for fear of incurring your
Majesty's displeasure.' And he assures Henry that he has
done all in his power to promote the views of the Supreme
Head,' and he wishes that ' the ground should open and
swallow him ' if he were remiss in carrying out Henry's
intentions. What a precious specimen of a religious
reformer is the contemptible creature who could write
thus ? And in his other letters to Henry and to Cromwell
we have the same servile duplicity exhibited. While
practically admitting his failure to make any but a bad
impression on Irish Catholics, he seeks to lay the blame for
his failure on others. Sometimes on the Lord Deputy
Grey, sometimes on his colleague and countryman Staples,
and sometimes on the obstinate superstition of the Irish.
Lord Leonard Grey, in turn, calls Browne a ' pole-shorn
knave,' whom he has frequently convicted of malicious
falsehoods. But Staples is more explicit, and less nattering,
in his estimate of his episcopal brother. In a letter to
St. Leger, of June 17th, 1538, he says of Browne : ' That
every honest man is not only weary thereof, but reckoneth
that pride and arrogance hath ravished him from the right
remembrance of himself . . . The common voice goeth
that he doth abhor the Mass,' &c. Against one who said
Mass, at least occasionally, this is a charge of gross hypocrisy
and sacrilege, and there is no denying its truth. And
the weight of the charge is not lessened by the well-known
fact, that Staples himself was just as guilty as Browne in
the matter. Staples suggests that an inquiry should be
made into the Archbishop's conduct, and he suggests also
some very inconvenient questions to be put to him, as to
the alienating of the revenues, and lands of his see to his
own children, &c. And in Browne's own hearing Staples
denounced him from the pulpit, called him ' a heretic and
a beggar,' and ' exhorted his hearers, and so much as in him
lay he adjured them, to give no credence unto whatsoever

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 401

I [Browne] said, for afore God, he would not.'1 This is an
edifying specimen of brotherly love among Mr. Olden's
spiritual fathers.

But let us hear another of those apostolic men on the
character of ' the first Protestant Bishop.' Bale of Ossory
attributes the ' wickedness ' of his own clergy to the ' lewed
example of the Archbishop of Dublin, who is always slack
in things pertaining to God's glory.' But he was worse
than slack : — ' An epicurious archbishop, a dissembling
proselyte, a brockish swine, a glutton, a drunkard, a
hypocrite, a frequent supporter of bawds.' 2

We have not Dr. Browne's estimate of Bale, nor indeed
is it necessary. Out of his own mouth he can be judged.
He was an ex- Carmelite, and he imitated Browne in breaking
his vows, and thus qualified himself to be a pillar of the
Irish Keformation. No respectable historian defends him.
It would be hopeless to attempt it. His clergy need not
come to Dublin for bad example. That, he himself abund-
antly supplied. "Wharton says of him : * I know Bale to be
so great a liar that I am not willing to take his judgment
against any man to whom he is opposed.' Even Dr. Mant
is unable to defend him. In fact, the common estimate of
him amongst respectable Protestants is that so tersely and
so forcibly expressed by Froude, that he is a ' foul-mouthed
ruffian,' ' the most profane and indecent of the Reformation
party.' Dr. Christmas, who edited Bale's works for the
Parker Society, admits in his preface that much of his
writing is unfit for publication. A hopeful specimen of the
Protestant apostolate !

We have Browne's estimate of Staples, whom he charges
in his letter to Allen with ' divers irregularities ;' and, refer-
ring to Staples' denunciation of himself, he says, ' he made a
comment without all honest sharne even before mine own
eyes, present at his sermon, with such a stomach, that I
think the three-mouthed Cerberus of Hell could not havj
uttered it more viperously.' 3 Like Browne, Staples was an

1 Browne to .Allen, April 15th, l-"38. a Bale't Voc*ycion.

3 April 15th, 1538.

VOL. I. JO

402 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

English priest who had broken his vows, and lived in public
sin ; who squandered the property of his see to support his
many children ; who pretended to say Mass piously under
Henry VIII. and ridiculed the Mass under Edward VI.
Such are Mr. Olden's spiritual fathers on their own testi-
mony. Such being the first builders of his 'Church of
Ireland,' it is no wonder that the work was slow and the
edifice unsightly. The touch of such men would blight the
best cause. Mr. Olden admits that little progress was made
under Henry, and none under Edward. On the accession
of Mary a Commission was appointed to investigate the
conduct of Mr. Olden's apostles. Browne, Bale, Staples, and
Lancaster, were deprived of their sees for having married
in violation of their vows of celibacy, and in defiance of the
Church's law, and the entire fraternity ' left the country for
the country's good.'

It is to Elizabeth's reign, and to her Irish Parliament of
A.D. 1560, that Mr. Olden and his friends must look for the
founding of their ' Church of Ireland.' A Parliament, he
says, was summoned ' to set up the worship of God, as it is
in England.' * The Reformation was adopted by the lay and
clerical members. Two bishops who refused to conform
were deprived of their sees. The Church thus reformed
itself, and the reformed bishops transmitted their succession
unbroken, though the livings somewhat impaired, to the
next generation of bishops. And thus we have in Mr. Olden's
convenient theory, the Protestant Church of to-day coining
down in unbroken succession from the ancient Church of
St. Patrick. The only change he admits is one of recent
date, and of decided advantage — Disestablishment — by which
he says ' she has regained her original freedom,' and many
other blessings besides. Mr. Olden has ' vested rights,' and
may on that account be able to take a more dispassionate
view of the advantages of ' disestablishment ;' but it is not
so clear that his less fortunate brethren take precisely the
same view.

He admits that his views regarding the Parliament of

i Pasre 323.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 403

A.D. 1560 have been ' recently denied,' but he holds that the
verdict of history for three centuries is on his side ; in fact,
that from Bramhall's ' day to the present no doubt has ever
been expressed as to the action ' of the bishops in the
Parliament of A.D. 1560. Mr. Olden's appeal is to history
like his own, written in ignorance or in defiance of facts.
Mr. Olden's theory of that Parliament has been during the
period he refers to, repeatedly denied, and frequently refuted.
And in -our times Mr. Froude, a Low-Church layman, and
Dr. Brady, a High-Church clergyman, have examined his
theory, and his statement is pronounced by Froude to be
' the most impudent falsehood in all history ;' and in this
verdict Dr. Brady fully concurs. Cardinal Moran, whose
extensive knowledge, great industry, and unrivalled oppor-
tunities, give special weight to his judgment, has examined
Mr. Olden's theory and demolished it. And Dr. McCarthy,
the late learned Bishop of Kerry, examined that theory,
with that accuracy and logical precision for which he was
remarkable, and his verdict is this : —

Of the canonically elected Irish bishops from 1536 to 1600,
it has not been proved for certain that any one apostatized but
Curwen of Dublin and Staples of Meath. Of the seventeen
archbishops, during the same period, two, and at most four
(including Browne), favoured the Eeformation by word or deed.
Of contemporary bishops, who at the lowest calculation could
have been little less than fifty in number, three (including
Devereux) abandoned the faith, and five or six wavered, or
shrunk from the pressure of merciless persecution. Through
these ten unfaithful servants the Establishment derives its descent
from the ancient Church of Ireland. Had their conformity been
as free, dispassionate, and disinterested, as we know it to have
been forced, uncanonical, and corrupt ; had it been the result of
honest conviction, the fruit of zeal in the service of God, and
not the effect of lawless tyranny, bribes, threats, avarice, and
lust ; had the chief agents to the change been as distinguished
for piety as they were for profligacy, their adhesion to the
reformed creed could be no more regarded as the act of the
Catholic bishops of their time than that sect which boasts of
being blessed by them can now be regarded as the Church of the
Irish people.

Whether the bishops then in Ireland did or did not
accept Elizabeth's creed, is a matter of merely historical

404 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

interest. In reality it concerns only the individuals them-
selves. If all the bishops of 1560 had apostatized, would
the apostasy of the many reflect greater credit on the
Church they are said to have founded than the apostasy of
the few ? If Mr. Olden's spiritual fathers be apostates, who
through fear of punishment abandoned their faith, is his
position made better because the apostates numbered thirty
rather than three? Suppose (what is improbable in the
extreme) that a number of Mr. Olden's bishops should join
the Catholic Church, and having made due provision for
their wives and children, and in other ways satisfied the
requirements of Canon Law, had been raised through the
various orders up to and including the Episcopate, would
those neophytes bring with them into the Catholic Church
all the temporal rights and privileges of the Church they
had left ; and would the Catholic Church to which they had
submitted be the legitimate heir, in all things, of the
Protestant Church which they had abandoned ? Mr. Olden,
no doubt, will answer No. And if he answer No in this
case, why does he answer Yes when there is question of the
apostasy of Catholic bishops ? And if the bishop had
apostatized, Pius IV., in 1560, held the divine commission
to teach and rule as fully as it was held by Pope Celestine
in 432. He therefore, or any of his successors, could repair
the evils done by schism or heresy. A Commission that is
proof against the ' Gates of Hell,' could not lose its efficacy
through Elizabeth's tyranny, or through the cruelty and
treachery of her officials.

But in Mr. Olden's theory the apostasy of the bishops
is a matter of vital importance in order that the apostolic
succession may be transmitted and preserved in his ' Church
of Ireland.' ' It is important,' he says, 'to vindicate the
regularity of Loftus' consecration,1 and there is no reason
to doubt that the consecration of Loftus was duly performed,
and by the proper number of bishops."2 It may, indeed,
be ' important,' but it is impossible to ' vindicate ' the con-
secration of Loftus. Curwen, his consecrator, was a bishop,

1 Page 326. 2 Page 329.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 405

and he may or may not have had assistant bishops on the
occasion ; but a bishop does not consecrate by an act of his
will. Valid matter and form are by divine appointment
necessary, and at the consecration of Loftus the Ordinal
of Edward VI. was used. That Ordinal was insufficient,
invalid, and therefore the consecration of Loftus was
invalid, null, and voicl, and Loftus 'was not a bishop, no
matter what the number of bishops present on the occasion.
The same is true, and for the same cause, of Bale and
Goodacre in A. p. 1552. An ordination or consecration by
Loftus, or by anyone whose so-called orders are traceable
to him, is simply an empty-handed proceeding which can
convey no priestly character, no spiritual gifts. And when
in A.D. 1662, controversy had shown the worthlessness of
the Anglican Ordinal, and thus led to its amendment, there
was then no bishop in the establishment who had himself
been validly ordained or consecrated ; and therefore no one
that could validly ordain or consecrate. This is the inherit-
ance that has come down to Mr. Olden's ' Church of
Ireland : ' no orders, no mission, no jurisdiction, except
such as an Act of Parliament can give. It is a ' Church '
without a sacrifice, without a priesthood, without an epis-
copate ; an impossibility, according to St. Jerome. No
one, Mr. Olden fancies, questioned the orders of Irish
Protestant bishops ! Evidently he knows nothing of the
literature on the subject. Had he consulted Arsdekin's
Theologia Tripartite*, or the Cursus Theologicus of Poncius,
or Dr. Talbot's De Nullitate Ecdesiae Protestanticae ejusque
Cleri, he would feel by no means flattered by their estimate
of his orders. Moreover, Irish Protestantism was regarded
as a small and insignificant offshoot of the English Estab
lishment. Arid the assailants of Protestant orders directed
their attacks against the more important branch of the
sect, and such writers regarded, and rightly regarded, the
orders of Irish Protestants as involved in the condemnation
of Anglican orders.

Mr. Olden's case for his bishops is certainly an extra-
ordinary one. ' The question/ he says, with regard to the
Marian bishops is not whether they accepted the reformed

406 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

doctrines, but whether they complied with the law by
taking the oath of supremacy . . . This was what she
required, and she was not concerned with their private
opinions.' 1 This is ' the unkindest cut of all ' for his
spiritual fathers ! A certain number of bishops who did
not believe in Protestant doctrines swore they did believe,
in order to retain their livings ; and by their false swearing
they transmitted to Mr. Olden's ' Church of Ireland ' all
the powers and privileges of orthodoxy ; by the very act of
perjury they purified and reformed the Church ! He is not
flattering in his estimate of them; but, in reality, his character
is the only one merited by those whom he can justly claim
as Reformers, as their own words prove. Hugh Curwen
was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in A.D. 1555, by Queen
Mary. How she could have selected him, considering his
action on the divorce question, is surprising. But though
he was prepared to denounce Papal supremacy under
Henry, he was equally ready to enforce it under Mary. At
Mary's death the real character of this theological weather-
cock became known. He took a wife in violation of his
vows, and openly renounced the Catholic faith. He does
not appear to have ever felt at home in Dublin. He was
anxious for a better living and less work. Brady, of Meath,
calls him ' an unprofitable servant ;' and Loftus repeats
the charge, and adds worse charges still. Loftus, though
Archbishop of Armagh, lived in Dublin, enjoying there the
rich deanery of St. Patrick's.

He probably never visited Armagh, being unwilling to
risk his life among the followers of Shane O'Neill. From
the very date of his appointment he was seeking the removal
of Curwen that he might himself secure the see of Dublin. In
a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking the influence
of that functionary for Curwen's removal, Loftus describes
his brother of Dublin as a ' known enemy, and laboured under
many crimes, which although he shamed not to do, I am
almost ashamed to speak.'2 And in a letter to Cecil, Oct. 5,
1556, he says of Curwen : ' I say in open judgment he

1 Page 327. a Strjpe's Life of Parkcs, vol. i., p. 221.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 407

swears terribly, and it not once or twice. I beseech your
honour is it not time that such a one be removed ; and with
dove-like simplicity he adds : ' I beseech your honour, for Jesus
Christ, His sake, that my suit for the .... Bishopric of
Dublin be furthered by your honour.' Curwen was removed to
Oxford, in 1567, and Loftus gained his coveted prize — the see
of Dublin. Irish Catholics remember Loftus as the man
who tortured Archbishop Hurley — who, in a State letter
to Walsingham recommended that Dr. Hurley should be
sent to the Tower of London, and for two reasons — (1st) lest
he may be rescued in Dublin ; and (2nd) because the
instruments of torture in Dublin were not sufficient
to terrify him : and who, though the Dublin crown lawyers
held that Dr. Hurley could not be tried by common law,
put him to torture and to death without any trial by any
law. But if Loftus was a persecutor of the Catholic Church
he was a scandal to his own. Avarice appears to have
been his predominant passion. Harris Ware says of him,
' Besides his promotions in the Church, and his public
employment in the State, he grasped at everything that became
void.' And he opposed the conversion of St. Patrick's
Church with its revenues into an endowed University ; on
this ground Harris says : •' For being greatly interested in
the livings of that Church by long leases and other estates
thereof to himself, his children or kinsmen.' From a letter
of February 5, 1587, in vol. 128 of the State papers, we learn
that Loftus had a very large family ; and from a letter in
vol. 85, dated September 12, 1581, we learn how his Grace
made ample provision for this numerous progeny of five sons
and seven daughters. Loftus managed to secure for himself
a large share in the profits of the notorious Court of Faculties
— a court which, according to Primate Long, was sending
' young and old, clergy and laity, in a wild gallop to the
devil.'1

Andrew Trallope, who was sent by Walsingham as a court
spy on the Irish officials, complains of the avarice of Loftus,
and of his malpractices in connection with the Court of

1 Lonfj to Walsingham, Jan. 20, 1535. Stale Papers, vol. 114.

403 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Faculties, and he says of Brady of Meath that though
' married to a very honest woman he is nevertheless a man
of so loose life that he kept a harlot in his house.'1

It is painful to have to wade through so much mire to
unearth the real character of the men whom Mr. Olden
holds up as models of virtue and instruments in God's hands
for the reformation of our people. Their own words prove
them to be one and all hypocrites steeped in nameless crimes,
lying, avaricious, cruel, immoral, cringing creatures of the
Btate ; — their sole aim being to amass money by the plunder
of Irish Catholics.

And the clergy of the lower orders were worthy disciples
of their spiritual superiors. Spenser, who knew them well,
says : * The clergy there, excepting those grave fathers which
are in high places about the State, and some few others which
are lately planted in the New College, are generally bad,
licentuous, and most disordered.' And of the English con-
tingent he says, specially : ' They are either unlearned or
men of bad note, for which they have forsaken England.
Whatever disorders you see in the Church of England you
may find there, and many more — namely, gross simony,
greedy covetousness, fleshy incontinency, careless sloth,
and generally all disordered life in the common clergymen.'2
And Andrew Trallope whose character of Loftus and Brady
has been already given, gives his experience of inferior
ministers as follows : ' He had lately arrived in Ireland and
in his first communication to Walsingham he says : ' I
know but few ministers in Ireland, yet one of them a common
table player and ale-house hunter — which can scarce read
the service — had three benefices. How he serveth them I
know not. I have been credibly told there hath been Mass
said in one of these since he had them.'3 And after five
years' experience of them, ho says : ' With long experience
and some extraordinary trial of these fellows, I cannot find
whether the most of them loved lewed women, cards, dice,
or drink best.'4

Such, on the testimony of their own friends, were the

1 Letter Sept. 12, 1581. State Papers, vol. 85. 3 Sept. 12, 1581.

2 View of Ireland, pp. 142-3 ; Dublin Ed., 1809. * Dec. 5, 1586.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 409

builders of Mr. Olden's ' Church of Ireland ;' and their work
was worthy of them. By their fruits they can be judged.
They plundered Irish Catholics, certainly, but they did not
pervert them. All the resources of a powerful nation, and
of a cruel unscrupulous Government, were at the command of
the preachers. Persecution and bribery were alternately
tried to force or seduce Irish Catholics into apostasy. But
all to no purpose. They would not listen to Elizabeth's
immoral preachers ; and so at the close of her reign, after forty
years devoted to ' reforming ' us, her own lieutenants sum
up the result thus. Spenser says in A.D. 1596 — ' They be all
Papists by their profession.' And Trallope had said of them
a few years earlier, writing from Dublin : ' All judges of the
law, Her Majesty's Chancellor (John Bathe), and barons of
the Exchequer, and counsels learned, and such as execute
inferior offices (with few exceptions) were Irishmen, and
Papists as all Irishmen be-'1 And if such was the success of
the ' Reformation ' in Dublin, what are we to expect in those
remote districts where 'the Queen's writ did not run '? Sir
Henry Sydney told Elizabeth, in 1576, ' that upon the face of
the earth where Christ is preached, there is not a church
in so miserable a case.' Sir W. Drury, Lord President of
Munster, writing from Waterford (April 16, 1577), says :
1 Masses infinite they have in their several churches every
morning. I have spied them as I chanced to arrive last
Sunday at 5 in the clock in the morning, and saw them resort
out of the churches by heaps. This is shameful in a re-
formed city.9 Nothing, therefore is more clear than that the
efforts made so persistently in Elizabeth's reign to force
Protestantism upon Ireland ended in miserable failure. The
agents in this unholy work themselves proclaim their failure.
In language often coarse, profane, and indecent, they reveal
their apostolic spirit. Day after day, and year after year, their
constant cry was for fresh means of coercion, fresh engines
of oppression : and such was their practical zeal, the cry
was always accompanied by a reminder that the labourer
was worthy of his hire. And not content with plundering

1 Letter to Walsingham, Sept. 12, 1581.

410 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Irish Catholics, they sought to rob them of their fair fame by
representing them as a nation of apostates, and all this that
the missionaries may be duly rewarded. But the curse of
sterility was upon them, and in spite of repeated ' Acts of
Conformity ; in spite of persecution, coercion and confisca-
tion ; ' in spite of dungeon, fire and sword/ our people were
as Catholic on the day when Elizabeth was called to her
judgment as on the day when she was called to the throne.
This was the result of what Froude calls an 'attempt to
force a religion upon them [the Irish] which had not a single
honest advocate in the whole nation.'1 ' The Mass,' says
Lecky, ' was made illegal ; the churches and church revenues
were taken from the priests, but the benefices were filled
with adventurers without religious zeal and sometimes with-
out common morality.'2 Yes, all this happened, but the
people of Ireland continued ' unchanged and unchangeable '
in their attachment to their faith, and their spiritual wants
were supplied by priests, to whom one of their deadliest
enemies is forced to pay the following tribute : —

Whereas it is a great wonder to see the odds which are
between the zeal of Popish priests and the ministers of the Gospel.
For they spare not to come out of Spain, from Eome, and from
Bheims, by long toil and dangerous travelling hither, where they
know peril of death awaiteth them, and no reward or riches are'
to be found, only to draw the people into the Church of Eome ;
whereas some of our idle ministers having a way for credit and
estimation thereby opened unto them without pains and without
peril, will neither for the same, nor for any love of God, nor zeal
of religion, nor for all the good they may do by winning souls to
God, be drawn from their warm nests to look out into God's
harvest.3

And the same curse of sterility has ever since pursued
Mr. Olden's ' Church of Ireland.' Jones and Ussher, and
Brarnhall and King, and Mant and Plunket and Whately
have each in their day made an involuntary confession of
their failure to detach Irish Catholics from their faith and
bring them to the tenets of Protestantism. And the spirit
of hostility to Ireland which that Church imbibed from
Loftus, and Bale, and Curwen, animates it still. With a

1 History of England, vol. x., p. 298. 2 History of England, vol. ii., p. 100.
5 Spenser's View of Ireland, p. 254 ; Dublin Ed., 1810.

RECENT PROTESTANT HISTORIANS OF IRELAND 411

few honourable exceptions amongst its clergy and lay mem-
bers, the whole weight and influence of that Church has been
on the side of the oppressor. It has been pampered to
paralysis. Catholic charities have been perverted from
their original purposes ; the soil of Ireland has been re-
peatedly confiscated ; penal laws, as bad as those of
Diocletian, have disgraced England's statute book ; Irish
Catholics have been, in their poverty, compelled to support
the ministers of a religion which they loathed, and have
been shot down for refusing to pay the hateful impost ; —
and all this has been done to create amongst us, and to
maintain a Protestant ascendancy, which has always been
the ascendancy of the few ; — the ascendancy of a mere
faction over the great mass of the people of Ireland. To
this wretched ascendancy Mr. Olden gives the nice name of
' Church of Ireland,' and he professes to write its history.
But it is history made to order : not taken from authentic,
reliable sources, or founded on facts. He does not tell the
real character of the ' Beformers,' or of their work. To do
so would only spoil his picture, and would, moreover, shock
those pious Protestant ladies who do the greater part of the
missionary work in Mr. Olden's ' Church ' in our time.

But the picture has been drawn by others who hated the
Catholic Church quite as much as Mr. Olden does. Some of
them — and the number could be multiplied a hundred-fold —
have been quoted in this paper, and the outlines drawn by
them of Mr. Olden's ' Church ' are, to-day, as indelible upon
it as the spots on the leopard. Anti-Irish, servile, avaricious,
cruel, barren, it has always been. It has thriven on the
miseries of the Irish people. It has for three hundred years
made peace and prosperity impossible in Ireland. It has
neither edified the living, consoled the dying, nor succoured
the dead. It was created for political ends, was maintained
as a political engine, and political expediency doomed it to
destruction. The power that had pampered it cast it aside
as worse than useless ; and the head of England's Protestant
Parliament sealed its fate by the memorable words, ' Cut it
down, why cumbereth it the ground ?'

J. MURPHY.

[ 412 ]

THE BULL 'APOSTOLICAE CURAE:' REPLY OF
THE ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOPS

I.

rPHE Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and of York
J_ have made their reply to the Pope. It is well to have
a statement of their own case from such eminent authorities,
and it may fairly be taken for granted that it has not lost for
want of advocacy. There does not, however, appear to be
any new argument advanced, nor has anything material
escaped the attention of the Koman Court. The Pope has
delivered his solemn judgment on a matter clearly within the
scope of his authority. ' Ordinations carried on according to
the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and
utterly void.' To this judgment every member of the
Catholic Church gives a loyal assent. The reasons for the
decision are set forth in clear and simple language, and,
apart from the authority which the judgment itself carries,
a calm examination of the reasons cannot fail to bring con-
viction to an unprejudiced mind. It is an agreeable duty to
consider the theological arguments of the Bull Apostolicae
Curae, and it is a decided advantage to read side by side
with it the elaborate reply of the heads of the Anglican
Communion. For Catholics, it is only a theological exer-
cise ; to Anglicans, it is a matter of their existence as a
Church. The presence, no doubt, of valid orders in any
community is not a sufficient guarantee that it belongs to
the Church founded by Christ. The Nestorians and othei
heretical sects of the East, as the Donatists of old, have
valid orders. They are not, however, of the true Church.
But the absence of valid orders demonstrates the want of
title to be regarded as the true Church, or even belonging
to it. For Anglicans, then, this is a serious question, and
it is fully recognised to be such by the two Archbishops,
when they state that ' the duty of reply cannot be discharged
without a certain deep and strong emotion.'

THE BULL 'APOSTOLICAE CURAE' 413

Nor did Leo XIII. undertake to examine the question of
Anglican Orders without deep feelings of sympathy and
consideration for those most intimately concerned. The
Encyclical Satis cognitum, and the Bull itself are evidences of
his apostolic care and anxiety, and even tenderness of feeling.
In a recent Allocution to the Cardinals he says : —

No other motive than that of removing one of the obstacles to
the desired unity induced us to give a decision recently on the
theological value of Anglican ordination, ... If our words could
reach the ears of those sons of the British Empire who do not
share our faith, we would wish to conjure them by the infinite
compassion of Jesus Christ not to entertain false apprehensions
and suspicions, and to believe that the inflexibility of duty alone
dictated our decision, which is merely the enunciation of a
sincere and definite truth.1

The reply of the Archbishops reciprocates the feelings of
the Pope. It is courteous and respectful, and from this
point of view does credit to its authors, and is likely to have
a good effect in smoothing the roughness of some contro-
versial methods. There is no doubt a decided difference
between Catholicism and Anglicanism. Yet it is undeniable
that, as the Beply states, the difference arises from a diverse
interpretation of the selfsame Gospel ; and is it not a gain
on this ground — namely, in defence of the selfsame Gospel
— that a united stand can be made against the inroads of
modern paganism ? The differences of Faith, of Government,
and of Worship still remain. Notwithstanding those differ-
ences, there can be reasonable and calm discussion of them,
and in this respect it is pleasing, indeed, to turn from the
many unbecoming replies which the papal pronouncement
evoked to this one which speaks so reverently of Leo XIII.,
whom so many millions of Christians regard as Christ's
Vicar on earth, and whose voice from his prison in the
Vatican cannot be seriously disregarded, even by those
who do not own his sway. He is not here designated by
opprobrious names borrowed from the Apocalypse : he is
styled ' our most venerable brother.' There is a kindly

1 The Catholic Times, March 12, 1897.

414 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

acknowledgment that the things he has written are some-
times very true, and always written in good will. ' We also
gladly declare/ it is said, ' that there is much in his own
person that is worthy of love and reverence.'

But in the Reply there are many things which are unique,
and there are several inaccuracies. It is addressed ' to the
whole body of the bishops of the Catholic Church ;' that is to
to say, not only to the Catholic Bishops properly so called,
but also to all those of the dissenting Churches, whether in
the East or in the West. This is a sufficiently wide
constituency, and a large court of appeal. The address may
sound well, and to some may be evidence of breadth of view,
but why should an appeal be made to those who have
already tried the case ? There is a new meaning put on £he
phrase ' Catholic Church ' to suit a visionary idea. The
bishops of the Russian Church cannot with any propriety be
called bishops of the Catholic Church, nor do they so call
themselves ; neither is it a proper designation of the Greek
Church. The language is not recognised. Why, then, have
recourse to it ? The Pope has declared Anglican Orders
null and void, and all the bishops owning his jurisdiction
re-echo his declaration with a universal affirmative. The
Churches of the East reject Anglican pretensions to a valid
priesthood. The Jansenists have been already appealed to,
and after due inquiry, as late as 1894, pronounced that ' their
[Anglican] Church is a congregation of laymen without
either deacons, priests, or bishops.' l What, therefore, is
the meaning of this cosmopolitan appeal ? It only adds
emphasis to Anglican isolation.

But have we in the reply an authentic statement of
Anglicanism ? The Guardian and Church Times regard it
as such : The Rock, and it has a right to speak, calls the
letter an ' astounding ' one : it is ' unhistorical and ridicu-
lous ;' and it is clear that ' the bishops, with few exceptions,
intend deliberately to undo the doctrinal Reformation in
its most essential aspects.' The language is strong.
Dr. Ryle, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, must be one of the

1 De la Validite des ordinations Anglicanes. Rotterdam, 1885.

THE BULL 'APOSTOLICAE CURAE' 415

few exceptions referred to, for he is sufficiently Low-church
and anti-Sacerdotalist for The Bock.

Our manner of conceiving the office of a minister of Christ
[says Dr Ryle] is very different from that of the Pope. On the
one hand, the ecclesiastic of the Roman Church is a true priest,
whose principal office is to offer the sacrifice of the Mass. On
the other hand, the ecclesiastic of the Anglican Church is in no
wise a priest, although we call him such ; he is only an elder whose
principal office is not to offer a material sacrifice, but rather to
preach the Word of God, and to administer the sacraments.1

This is the Protestantism of the good old sort with its
Bible, its Thirty-nine Articles, its Book of Common Prayer,
its hatred of the Mass and the Altar ; it is the Protestant-
ism of Cranmer and the framers of the Ordinal ; and unless
one is willing to ignore contemporary facts, and to become
a visionary, one cannot regard the views set out by the two
Archbishops as authorized by the beliefs and worship of the
Anglican communion, such as it is known to be, much less
as representing the mind and intention of the framers of the
Ordinal of Edward VI. In this respect the point of the
Reply is blunted. Besides it argues on the basis that Holy
Orders is a sacrament, and it takes for granted that Confir-
mation is likewise a sacrament ; but the Thirty-nine Articles
and the Church Catechism speak of only two sacraments —
Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

It is stated in the Beply that its object is ' to make
plain for all time our doctrine about Holy Orders, and other
matters appertaining to them.' The phrase, ' our doctrine,'
is vague. It cannot mean, as has been shown, the doctrine
of the Anglican Church. Is it, then, only the doctrine
which the two Archbishops agree in holding ? What is its
doctrinal authority ? If one consults Dr. Salmon, it is only
to be measured by the capability of the teachers; and it
carries the same authority as if the two Archbishops were
only teachers in some College or University.2 There is no
special guidance, nor is there any obligation to obey on

1 The Guard. an, Nov. 4, 1896; p. 1766.

2 Infallibility of the Church. Lecture VII. By George Salmon, D.D.,
Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. London : John Murray.

416 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

the part of the members of the Anglican Church. Still,
it looks like a definition of doctrine, especially when it is
said that not only is the doctrine to he made plain, but to be
made so 'for all time.' But have not Dr. Ryle, of Liverpool,
and the Anglican Bishop of Sodor and Man, authority to
state their doctrine on Holy Orders ; and if some future Prime
Minister, not in sympathy with sacerdotal tendencies in the
Anglican Church, would nominate some one of the same
views as these two to either York or Canterbury, would not
they be within their right in making plain their doctrine
regarding Holy Orders, and with the same propriety ' for
all time ' ? But which should be regarded as the teaching of
the Anglican Church ?

There is, then, no authentic statement of the Anglican
position. The Reply carries with it such weight as the
personal authority of the Anglican Archbishops can give it
— not that of the Anglican Church ; and this is an impor-
tant point in considering the force of the Archbishops'
argument ; for if the Anglican Church even still rejects
every idea of a sacrificing priesthood, then it cannot have
valid orders : it may have a ministry validly delegated by
the civil authority ; but there is no Priesthood.

It is a matter of some surprise to see the name of
Dr. Temple attached to the Reply ; for he has never been
suspected of sacerdotalist tendencies, and one should not
think of finding the author of the first essay in the famous
' Essays and Reviews ' the joint author of so High Church
a document. But the treatment of the question was
bequeathed to him by his predecessor, Dr. Benson, who,
we are told, had selected experts in theology and Church
history to draw up the Reply.1 It may be, then, that
Dr. Temple had little to do with its composition. Some
suggest that more idiomatic and elegant Latinity — for the
reply is written in Latin as well as English — might be
expected from a scholar like Dr. Temple, who is also an
ex-headmaster.

The Guardi.m, April 7, 1897. Letter of the Archbishop of York.

THE BULL 'APOSTOLICAE CURAE' 417

Anyhow, the inheritance was bequeathed to him, and it
may not be in accordance with his tastes, though he had an
obvious duty to discharge. The circumstances in which
Dr. Benson handed down his wishes are pathetic, and even
tragic, and throw considerable light on the obligation
imposed on his successor. The late Archbishop of Can-
terbury had been in Ireland at the re-opening of the
Protestant Cathedral of Kildare. There was much talk
and considerable boasting at the gathering on that occasion
of the ancient Church of Ireland, the Church of St. Patrick
and St. Brigid, and of the Protestant claim to be regarded
as the legitimate heir of the Church of St. Brigid at Kildare,
and of the ancient Church of St. Patrick. The Papal Bull
had just been issued, which practically stated that the
Protestant hierarchy was only a body of laymen, and it gave
its reasons. On the return of Dr. Benson to England, in
the train between Carlisle and Chester, the first draft of a
statement was made. It contained the promise of an early
reply to the Pope's pronouncement. ' I write these,' says
Dr. Benson, ' to say that a statement will shortly appear,
which may, I hope, comfort any who think it is required.
Infallibility has happily this time ventured on reasons.'
Then he goes onto say what is bis thesis : — ' They [Anglican
orders] are in origin, continuity, matter, form, intention, and
all that belongs to them, identical with those of the Church
of Borne.' 1

This is a sufficiently comprehensive statement; but it
requires to be proved. It may suit very well to declaim
about the ancient Church of Ireland, and to claim a distant
lineage before an admiring and sympathetic audience, such
as, no doubt, was assembled at Kildare on the occasion to
which I refer ; but here is a deliberate statement of doctrine,
which, if false, completely overthrows the Anglican Church,
and, of course, the so-called Church of Ireland, as by law
established.

Dr. Benson, however, did not live to fulfil his promise.
He died suddenly in Hawarden Church a short time after
putting his last corrections to this statement, and it is a

i Church Timcf, Oct. 23, 1896.
VOL I. 2 D

418 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

matter of regret that he did not live to do as he had
intended. The burden placed on his successor was a
heavy one. There is no closing one's eyes to the points to
be established. Dr, Benson has clearly marked them out.
' Anglican Orders are identical with those of the Church of
Rome,' and they are identical 'in origin, continuity, matter,
form, intention, and all that belongs to them." This is the
high-water mark of orthodoxy ; yet Rome declares them null
and void; and in this she is at one with both East and West;
nor do the members of the Low Church and Broad Church
in the Anglican communion hold in reality different views.

The Reply is an elaborate statement. It contains twenty
sections, and it might have been considerably shortened, had
irrelevant matter and some inaccuracies been omitted. The
Latinity compares unfavourably with the graceful and
idiomatic Latinity of the Letters of Leo XIII. It is
overburdened with references and foot-notes, which, no
doubt, show some research, but which tend to obscure the
main point. In the Papal Bull, side issues are scrupulously
avoided, and there is no evidence of effort, nor is there
any display of erudition. It is the ' Anglican rite ' which is
defective. The defect is pointed out. The sacred order of
the priesthood, or its grace and power, is not expressed :
it is, on the contrary, deliberately cut out. Have Anglicans
erased from their ordinal every vestige of a sacrificing
priesthood? Do they believe in a Real objective Presence?
Do they hold that what is offered is not bread and wine,
but the Body and Blood of Christ really, truly, and
substantially present under the appearances of bread
and wine? There are vague references, no doubt, to a
Eucharistic Sacrifice; but the simple question, which is all
important,1 is not definitely answered.

It may be well to point out what is irrelevant and inac-
curate in the Anglican Reply, so that attention may then be
more easily centred on the principal argument.

The first inaccuracy it is necessary to call attention to
is the assertion that the Pope regards imposition of hands

1 See I.E. RECORD, Dec., 1896.

THE BULL ' APOSTOLIC AE CURAE' 419

as the matter of the Sacrament of Orders (Section VIII.).
It is thus implied that the Pope has set his imprimatur on a
special theological opinion. A little acquaintance with the
procedure of the Eoman Court would have caused this
inaccuracy to be avoided. The opinion which regards imposi-
tion of hands as the matter of Holy Orders appears, no
doubt, to be the common one; but there is another opinion.
This state of theological opinion remains in the same posi-
tion now. as it was before the Bull Apostolicae Curae, and
the discipline of the Church, which ensures against risk, is
unchanged. The safe course, when there is question of the
validity of Holy Orders, is to be followed. But the Pope's
statement is clear : — ' The matter of which [Holy Orders] in
so far as we have to consider it in this place, is the imposi-
tion of hands.' 1 It was desirable not to overload the Papal
Letter with unnecessary considerations, so that the issue
might be kept clear. Accordingly, it was sufficient to
consider the imposition of hands alone, abstracting from
any further question, as to the matter of Holy Orders.

A second inaccuracy which is made the subject matter
of Section IV. , is like the one already pointed : —

Nor do we desire to deny that in entering upon this controversy
he [the Pope] has consulted the interests of the Church and of
truth in throwing over the very vain opinion about the necessity
of the delivery of the instruments, which was nevertheless widely
accepted by scholastic theologians from the time of St. Thomas
Aquinas up to that of Benedict XIV. , and even up to the present
day.

The object of this paragraph is evident : it is an effort to
prejudice the case ; but the statement contained in it is not
in accordance with facts. The Pope has not thrown over
the opinion of St. Thomas : it simply does not enter into
the consideration of the case ; it is the form which makes the
difference, and which determines the Papal judgment.2

1 Idque in Sacramento ordinis manifesting apparet, cujus conferendi materia,
yitatenus hoc loco se dat considerandam cst itnposiiio manuum.

2 It is strange that Dr. Stokes of Trinity College, Dublin, says, and even
persists in saying, not that the Pope has thrown over the question of the
delivery of the instruments, but that ' the Bull proceeds on the assumption that
the essential point of ordination is the delivery of the vessels.' What a curious
difference of interpretation ! {The Pope on Anglican Orders, by George T. Stokv.s,
D.D., Vicar of All Saints. liJackrcck, and 1'rot'essor of Ecck siastical History
in the University of Dublin; pp. IS7-4G.)

420 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

In the same section it is stated that the Pope ' has done
well in neglecting other errors and fallacies.' The reference
is, no doubt, to the question of Parker's and Barlow's
consecrations, and the insinuation is that the Pope in
neglecting those matters, thereby tacitly makes a decision.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Pope simply
passes over these questions, and takes the evidence which
was clear and unmistakable, namely, the insufficiency of the
Anglican rite. This whole section might, therefore, with
advantage, have been omitted.

Referring to the form of Holy Orders, the Reply says : —

Its [the Council of Trent] passing remark about the laying on
of hands [Section XIV. on Extreme Unction], and its more decided
utterance on the force of the words, ' Eeceive the Holy Ghost,'
which it seems to consider the form of order [Section XXII I. on
the Sacraments of Order, Canon IV.] are satisfactory enough to us,
and certainly are in no way repugnant to our feelings. (Sect. III.)

But the Council of Trent does not state that the form
of Holy Orders is contained in the words, ' Receive the
Holy Ghost ;' nor can that be inferred. The Canon of
the Council of Trent is meant to show that the priesthood is
not a mere delegation of the laity, but that something is
conveyed from Christ and the Apostles which the people
cannot give. Hence the ceremonial of ordination is not an
empty one, and the rite is not performed vainly. It is one
thing to say that by the words ' Receive the Holy Ghost '
the grace of the priesthood is conferred, which the Council
of Trent does not say : it is quite another thing to state
that by sacred ordination, in which the words ' Receive
the Holy Ghost1 occur, the order of priesthood is giver.
No doubt there were some theologians who held as a
speculative opinion that those words contained the form of
ordination ; but when asked how they could have a definite
signification of the order of priesthood, or its grace and
power, they answered that it was determined by the whole
rite, which was intended to ordain a sacrificing priesthood.
But this does not hold in the case of the Anglican Ordinal,
for every vestige of a sacrificing priesthood has been cut out
of it. There will be a question later on as to whether words

THE BULL * APOSTOLIC AE CURAE' 421

which occur in the form can be determined by anything
outside the essential rite- It is clear that words which
cannot bear the necessary meaning cannot be so determined.
The question arises in regard only to words which may
have that meaning.

It is difficult to understand why the subject of confirm-
ation was introduced and treated throughout Section X.
Everyone knows there is a speculative discussion concerning
what is the matter, and, consequently, the form of confirm-
ation ; but practically there is no controversy, for the safer
view is always followed in order to secure with certainty the
effects of the sacrament. This section might, accordingly,
have been omitted. It was introduced for the purpose of
showing that in the question of the sacraments there is no
fixed matter and form except in the case of baptism, and,
therefore, it cannot be said when anything essential is
omitted. It is true, there is no stereotyped form of words ;
.but there is a fixed type, from which if one departs there is
no sacrament. There may be differences of opinion as to
whether chrism is part of the matter of confirmation, but
if chrism be omitted, then the validity of the sacrament
remains doubtful ; if both chrism and imposition of hands be
omitted the sacrament is invalid : so if the expression of the
sacred order of priesthood, or the power and grace of it be
omitted, the sacrament of orders is invalid. This leads us
again to the fundamental question, Has every vestige of a
sacrificing priesthood been cut out of the Anglican Ordinal ?

But, although the Anglican Archbishops assume sacred
orders to be a sacrament, they can scarcely be said to have a
clear conception of what a sacrament of the New Law is, or
of its elements. The matter of a sacrament is something
indeterminate ; the form determines it to something definite.
What is the conception of the Anglican archbishops ?
' Baptism alone,' they say, ' is certain as to its matter and
form' (Sect. IX.). ' The form of Confirmation is uncertain
and quite general, prayer, that is to say, or benediction,
more or less suitable ' (IX.). ' Whatever, therefore,
the Pope may answer, it is clear enough that we cannot
everywhere insist very strictly on that doctrine about a

422 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

fixed matter and form ' (IX.). As already stated, there is no
fixed set of words, but there is a fixed type arising from the
nature of the sacramental sign, and the reply of the Anglican
Archbishops, if it means anything, must mean that there is
neither a fixed set of words nor a fixed type determined by
the sacrament, which is essentially a sign; and accordingly it
is left to the will of churches and individuals to set apart any
form of words as a sign of the sacrament of orders- From
principles so vague and general, it is no wonder that there
should be loose reasoning regarding the requirements for
a valid rite of priestly ordination.

The fact is lost sight of that the external rite is a sign,
and the signification must be definite. In the case of the
rite for priestly ordination the thing which requires to be
definitely set out is the Sacred Order of the Priesthood, or
its grace and power. This point is missed in the Reply.

In this connection a grave inaccuracy occurs. The Papal
Bull says the rite must mention ' the Sacred Order of the
Priesthood, or its grace and power, which is chiefly the
power of consecrating and of offering the true Body and
Blood of the Lord.' If the Sacred Order of the Priesthood
be mentioned, then there is implicit mention of its chief
grace and power ; for by priest is meant sacrificing priest.
In this case it is not at all necessary to mention explicitly
the power of sacrifice. But the two Archbishops strangely
assume that the Pope has written and, not or, and then
proceed quite irrelevantly to argue, in Sections XII., XIII.,
and XIV., that in several of the ancient rites there is no
mention of sacrifice. It would have been much to the point
if they could produce any ancient rite in which there was
not mention either of the Sacred Order of Priesthood or
of its chief grace and power. Their arguments in those
sections are, therefore, quite beside the question.

With regard to the doctrine of intention, it is satisfac-
tory to find that the Reply has nothing to find fault with in
the Papal Bull. ' Nor do we part company with the Pope,'
it says, ' when he suggests that it is right to investigate the
intention of the Church in conferring Holy Orders, in so
far as it is manifested externally.' (VIII.)

THE BULL 'APOSTOLICAE CURAE' 423

This is a considerable advance towards a due apprecia-
tion of the Catholic doctrine of intention. It is on this
head chiefly Anglicans1 found fault with the requirements of
Catholic theology for a valid sacrament, and assumed that
we should constantly search into the recesses of the mind of
the minister of a sacrament. But in applying this doctrine
the Archbishops gravely err.

' But the intention of the Church,' they go on to
say, ' must be ascertained, ' in so far as it is manifested
externally, that is to say from its public formularies and
definite pronouncements, which directly touch the main
point of the question, not from its omissions and reforms
made as opportunity occurs, in accordance with the liberty
which belongs to every province and nation, unless it may
be something is omitted which has been ordered in the
Word of God, or the known and certain statutes of the
Universal Church ' (VIII).

There may be, indeed, omissions and additions, and
certain reforms without interfering with the validity of the
rite; but there may be also omissions which deprive the rite
of its efficacy as a sacramental sign. This is precisely what
has been done in the case of the Anglican rite. For from
it has been deliberately removed whatever expresses the
sacred order of the Priesthood, or its grace and power.
Accordingly, the intention, ' in so far as it is manifestly
externally,' is not to do as the Church does : it does the
contrary, and does it deliberately.

J. CROWE.

1 I. E. RECOED, Jan., 1895, p. 17; Nov., 1896. pp. 969-970.

[ 424 ]

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE
IMITATION OF CHRIST '?

V.

LET us now consider the claims of John Charlier de
Gerson in reference to the authorship of The Imitation
of Christ.

If, for a few hours, we imagine ourselves transported
back amidst the turbulent scenes which convulsed Central
Europe in the early part of the fifteenth century, it will not
be difficult to understand how John Charlier de Gerson, the
mighty Chancellor of the University of Paris, came to be
looked upon as a possible author of The Imitation of Christ.
He lived near the time when the book appeared ; he was a
prominent figure in the great religious upheaval of that
dark epoch ; he was greatly revered — aye, venerated —
despite some errors of judgment ; and, in addition, he was
a versatile and copious writer on spiritual subjects.

While the saintly Canon of Agnetenberg was scarcely
known beyond the limits of his own congregation, the
world rang with the praise and renown of the ' Doctor
Christianissimus,' who was, in turn, the favourite and the
persecuted of princes, the dauntless enemy of heresy and
corruption, the guiding spirit of councils — nay, even the
deposer of the very Pope himself. Withal, the more deeply
we search into his character, history, and writings, the
more evident it becomes that The Imitation never emanated
from his gifted and prolific pen. This great man's life is too
well known to need reproduction here — at all events, in any
extended form. A page or two will suffice to recapitulate
the main features of his magnificent, though sad and troubled
career.

John Charlier, otherwise known as John Charlier de
Gersoa, Johannes Gersonus, Gersone, Jarson, Jarsone,
Gersem, or Gersen, was born, on the 14th of December,
1363, at the village of Gerson, near Bheirns, from whence

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 425

he takes his surname. His parents, Arnulph Charlier and
Elizabeth de la Chardeniere, belonged to a humble class,
were eminently pious, and had the consolation of seeing
seven of their twelve children devoting themselves to the
service of God in religious life. John, the eldest of the
family, was sent to Paris when about fourteen years old.
Alter five years' study in the historic College of Navarre, he
obtained the degree of Licentiate in Arts, and then began
his theological studies under the direction of Giles des
Champs, and Peter D'Ailly, then Chancellor 'of the Univer-
sity of Paris, and afterwards Bishop of Puy, Archbishop of
Cambrai, and Cardinal.

Gerson seems at a very early period to have attracted
the notice of the authorities of the University. In 1383
he was elected procurator, and re-elected the following year.
In 1384 he took his degree as Bachelor, and in 1392 as
Doctor of Theology. In 1395, when Peter D'Ailly was
appointed Bishop of Puy, Gerson, at the early age of thirty-
two, was elected Chancellor of the University of Paris, and
made Canon of Notre Dame. .

This famous University was then in the zenith of its
glory, and its Chancellor was of necessity one of the fore-
most men in Europe, bearing in his hands the destinies of
the vast crowd of students from all parts of the world who
flocked to its halls and sought its distinctions. Gerson's
writings feelingly portray his deep sense of the responsi-
bilities, anxieties, and troubles of his exalted position.
Oftentimes he seems to have been weary of the burden.
It involved him in perpetual strife, and being a purely
honorary post, in monetary difficulties, and forced him into
public liie, while he yearned for leisure to pursue his studies.
Accordingly, we find him, in 1400, accepting from the Duke
of Burgundy, to whom he was almoner, and whose friend-
ship and protection he then enjoyed, the Deanery of the
Cathedral of Bruges. This position, with its prospects of
comparative independence, does not appear to have suited
his aspirations, and within a couple of years he returned to
Paris and the Chancellorship of the University. From the
time when Gerson left Bruges we find him continuously

426 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

occupied in strife and contention, endeavouring to promote
reformation amongst the clergy and laity, to remodel the
course of studies in the University, and absorbed in the
struggle to terminate the appalling scandal of his time — the
papal schism — the great schism of the West. He appears
as the delegate to popes and anti-popes, the leader amongst
leaders at Pisa and Constance, swaying the destinies of
councils, pontiffs, and of the Church itself.

At last we come to his downfall, wherein his true nobility
shines forth. When John Petit essayed to defend the
murder of the Duke of Orleans, of which foul deed the
reckless Duke of Burgundy, ' Jean sans Peur,' was avowedly
guilty, Gerson, with all the grandeur of his lofty character,
sacrificed the favour of his patron, and denounced the false
plea set forth to shield him. Again at Constance he returned
to the charge, and proved the indefensibility of the murder.

From that hour, through terror of his former potent ally,
he became an exile from France, and, donning a pilgrim's
habit and grasping a staff, he wandered through Lower
Germany and Austria, until the tragic death of the Duke of
Burgundy permitted his return home.

Disgusted with public life, and unwilling to re-enter its
arena, Gerson sought an asylum with his brother, who was
then Prior of the Celestinians at Lyons. There, in peaceful
retirement, he spent the remaining years of his life, praying,
writing, and teaching little children, asking only from his
pupils ' a prayer for poor Gerson.' He died in 1429, and
was buried in the Church of St. Laurence, at Lyons. On
his tomb were inscribed the words, ' Poeniteinini et credite
Evangelic.'

Such in a few sentences was the history of the mighty
Chancellor Gerson, who, despite his errors of judgment, and
the terrible vicissitudes of his chequered career, was
undoubtedly one of the grandest characters of the Middle
Ages. I am aware that many judge him more unfavourably
than I can, but the circumstances in which he was placed
must be remembered, and due allowance made. It is need-
less, however, to observe how utterly incompatible the life I
have sketched, spent in ceaseless political and polemical

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 427

warfare is, with the authorship of such a book as The
Imitation, which throughout exhibits tranquillity, contem-
plation, and absorption in God — attributes only possible for
the work of one who had passed a lifetime in the cloister
in meditation and prayer. The bare idea seems absurd, but
still it is beyond question that Gerson has been accredited
with its paternity, and has found advocates of learning and
earnestness.

How came this to pass ? As we know, The Imitation
appeared anonymously in the first third of the fifteenth
century. Immediately before that period Gerson was one
of the most prominent figures in Europe, and his spiritual
writings were spread broadcast and highly appreciated. It
so happened, moreover, that in more than one instance his
essay, De Meditatione Cordis, was bound up in the same
volume with the Imitatio Christ i.

Herein seems to lie the whole explanation. The
obscurity of Thomas a Kempis, the prominence of Gerson,
and the ignorance of transcribers, led to The Imitation,
whose author was little known, being attributed to the
Chancellor, whose Meditatio Cordis was familiar to many.
The error, once promulgated, grew apace as manuscripts
were reproduced, and doubtless the exalted reputation of the
supposed author caused the book to be read and valued more,
and consequently a better investment for the labour of
copyists, and later on of printers and publishers. We shall
now examine Gerson's claims, show how baseless they are,
and contrast them with those of a Kempis. It will be most
convenient to discuss them in the order in which we have
studied those of the holy Canon of Mount St. Agnes.

I. — Contemporary Witnesses.

I have quoted fourteen, out of many more I might have
cited, who bear testimony in favour of a Kempis. For Gerson
there is not a single one. Nay, more, my reader will recollect
that Mauburn, Schott, Lambert, Danhausser, and Simus,
while testifying in favour of Thomas, state positively that
Gerson was not the author of The Imitation of Christ.

More crushing even than their statements is the negative

428 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

evidence of Gerson's brother, and of Jaques de Ciresio, the
Chancellor's secretary and intimate friend. John Gerson,
the brother and namesake of the Chancellor, with whom the
latter spent the closing years of his life, was Prior of the
Celestinians at Lyons. In 1423, six years before the death
of his illustrious guest, he was requested by a member of
his Order, Brother Anselm, to draw up a correct list of
Gerson's works. He did so with the utmost precision, but
in that catalogue we do not find ' The Imitation ' mentioned.
Later on, in 1429, about the time of the Chancellor's death,
Ciresio added a note to the catalogue, pointing out the
treatises which he admired most, with other details, but of
' The Imitation ' he says not one word.

It is not within the range of possibility that these two
men, one the brother, and the other the secretary and
devoted friend of the Chancellor, both of whom were
responsible for the list of his works, would have omitted
to mention The Imitation if he were its author. Their
silence is, beyond evasion, a crushing blow to Gerson's
pretensions.

Withal, Gerson has found from time to time, principally
amongst his compatriots, learned and brilliant advocates.
The most important are Camus, Dupin, Gence, Tourlet,
Onesime Leroy, Corneille, Monfalcon, Carton, Thomassy,
Vert, and Darche. Of all, Gence is the most erudite and
philosophical, and yet the perusal of his remarkable essay
leaves the reader under the conviction that this learned
writer pleads for an impossible theory.

The most recent champions of the great Chancellor are
Vert and Darche. Certainly they have availed themselves
to the utmost of the researches of their predecessors, so we
need not travel beyond their writings. If deficient in solid
argument, unquestionably they are not wanting in vivacity
of imagination or boldness of assertion. As a specimen of
M. Vert's method of reasoning, let us see what he says of
' contemporary witnesses ' for the claims of Gerson. He
tells us that numbers are forthcoming. As a matter of fact,
what do his ' contemporary witnesses ' amount to ?

First. Louis Gonzales (who lived about a century" and

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 429

a half after the death of Gerson) says that St. Ignatius of
Loyola always carried with him his ' Gerson,' or Imitation
of Christ.

Secondly. A Memoir, edited by the Jesuits about 1570
(one hundred and forty years after Gerson's death), points
out as a work greatly prized by the Society of Jesus, The
Imitation of Christ, attributing it to Gerson.

Thirdly. He quotes Luca Pinelli, an Italian Jesuit
whose works appeared about the year 1600 — that is, one
hundred and seventy years after Gerson's death — who also
attributes The Imitation to Gerson.

Such are Vert's numerous contemporary witnesses !

I think it would scarcely repay the reader were I to carry
him in detail through the mazes of M. Vert's arguments, the
cogency of which may be fairly gauged by the foregoing
specimens.

Respecting M. Darche's strange essay, I find it difficult
to offer an opinion. It appears to be the rhapsody of an
enthusiast, and his contentions, reduced to a point, amount
to this, that Gerson was a great and good man, an eminent
spiritual writer, and therefore must have been the author of
The Imitation !

II. — External Evidence of Manuscripts.

The earliest dated manuscript of The Imitation which
attributes it to Gerson is the Sangermanensis. It is signed
1460, thirty-one years after the death of the supposed author.
The Florentine manuscripts of 1464 and 1466 give his name
as John Gexseu, Parisian Chancellor. So also do the Verona
and the Wolfenbuttel. The Padolironensis codex also gives
his name as Gerse/t, and his epitaph.

This fact should be carefully borne in mind, as we shall
see its importance later on — viz., that the name of the
Parisian Chancellor is frequently written Gersen. As to the
undated manuscripts bearing Gerson's name (howsoever
spelt), there is not one which shows evidence of being
written earlier than the fifteenth century, and not the
earliest portion of it. I need not dilate upon this topic.
We have already discussed the value of the undated

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

manuscripts. Adding together the various codices which give
the name of Gerson, Gersem, Gersen, Gers, &c. — all of
which evidently point to the Chancellor of Paris — ",ve find
that they amount to about thirty.

When we call to mind these facts, we are in a position
to estimate the vast preponderating external evidence of
manuscripts in favour of a Kempis and against Gersou.
While the great Chancellor was one of the most prominent
characters of his day, and a well-known and prolific spiritual
writer, we find some thirty manuscripts giving his name, but
not one during his life, or for over thirty years after his
death. On the other hand, in favour of the obscure Monk
of Agnetenberg, who was scarcely known outside of his Con-
gregation, we find some sixty manuscripts pointing to him,
a considerable proportion written during his life, including
one in his own handwriting, placed at the head of a series of
spiritual treatises, which we have no reason to doubt were
of his own composition.

Furthermore, as we have seen in my last article, the
larger portion of the three hundred and sixty-one manu-
scripts appertaining to Germany and the Low Countries
exhibit contact and amity with the School of Windesheim,
of which a Kempis was the great literary exponent.

Before leaving the subject of the manuscripts advanced
in favour of Gerson, I must allude to the theory raised by .
the Abbe Dufresnoy, and defended by Onesime Leroy, and
later by Vert.

There exists in the library of Valenciennes a manuscript,
in French, containing some works of Gerson, to which his
name is appended, and also the three first books of Tht,
Imitation of Christuudei the title oiUInternelle Consolation,
to which no name is attached. Some partizans of Gerson,
including several of those named above, argue that the book
of L'Internelle Consolation is by Gerson, and that he wrote
it in French. Their contention does not bear examination.
The Valenciennes manuscript is dated 1462, and is almost
identical with another manuscript existing in the library of
Amiens, dated 1447, which the transcriber avows to be a
translation from Latin into French. There is good evidence,

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 431

moreover, to show that both manuscripts are attributable to
the same individual — namely, David Aubert, a native of
Hesdin.

Now, as the earliest of these manuscripts dates eighteen
years subsequent to the death of Gerson, and the other no
less than thirty-three years after that .event, it seems futile
to contend that they assist his candidature. Monseigneur
Malou discusses this subject with great care, and demon-
strates satisfactorily that the manuscripts in question are a
very clumsy translation of The Imitation, which, as we
know, was extant in Latin thirty-six years before the date
of the earliest of them.

III. — Internal Evidence.

When we examine The Imitation of Christ and the works
of John Gerson, with a view to discovering a similarity
between the two, we find instead a diametrical opposition.
We have already seen the remarkable parallelism which
exists between The Imitation and the works of Thomas
a Kempis — in style, peculiarities of language, including
unusual words, Ducch idioms, unique punctuation, derivation
from the Scriptures, St. Bernard, and the writers of the School
of Windesheim. When, on the other hand, we study the
works of the great Chancellor, we are struck by a manifest
contrast in every particular. In vain do we seek for the
peculiarities of language and train of thought which charac-
terize The Imitation and a Kempis' other compositions.
They are nowhere to be found. Gerson is decidedly
scholastic — The Imitation is the very reverse. Gerson is
diffuse, verbose, involved — The Imitation is terse, epigram-
matic, and transparently clear. Gerson is grandiloquent,
didactic, arid, and but rarely devotional — The Imitation is
homely, sympathetic, and full of unction at every page.
Gerson deals mostly with theory and reason — The Imitation
is always practical, and appeals to the heart.

If we take the Meditatio Cordis as a specimen of Gerson's
spiritual teaching, and read it side by side with The
Imitation, it becomes evident that the two never emanated
from the same source. I quote this particular essay because

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

its subject is somewhat congenial, and thus it affords a fair
ground for comparison.

This striking diversity of style constitutes an argument
against the great Chancellor which is per se conclusive and
unanswerable. Authors vary in the power and merit of
their compositions, but style is an individuality and unalter-
able. Gerson's style asserts itself throughout his works as
consistently as a Keinpis' pervades The Imitation and his
other writings, and no wider contrast could be imagined
than what we find between the productions of these two
great teachers. It would seem to me as reasonable to
attribute The Pilgrim's Progress to Gibbon, or the Dialogues
of Lucian to Xenophon, as to affirm that The Imitation was
the work of the Chancellor of Paris.

Cardinal Newman touches this subject with his well-
known perspicuity and force. Speaking of the individuality
with which every man of genius expresses his ideas and
feelings in language, he says : — ' ... he gives utterance to
them all, — in a corresponding language, which is as multi-
form as this inward mental action itself, and analogous to it,
the faithful expression of his intense personality, attending
on his own inward world of thought as its very shadow ; so
that we might as well say that one man's shadow was
another's, as that the style of a really gifted mind can belong
to any but himself. It follows him about as a shadow. His
thought and feeling are personal, and so his language is
personal. Thought and speech are inseparable from each
other. Matter and expression are parts of one : style is a
thinking out into language.'

After studying the works of Gerson it appears to me tbaf
his partizans have quite overlooked the philological aspect
of the question. The supposition that he was the author of
The Imitation must include a belief that he had learned a
new language in which to write it, totally different from
what we find in his voluminous and admirable works !

It seems needless to discuss further the idea that the
great Chancellor Gerson could have written The Imitation;
however, before dismissing the subject, I would refer all
interested in it to the remarkably clear and solid refutation

A LIST OF CHURCH MUSIC 433

of bis pretensions which we find in the essays of two recent
French writers — namely, M. Arthur Loth and Monseigneur
Peuyol.

In conclusion, let me quote a remark lately made to
me by one of the most erudite Frenchmen of our time,
M. Leopold Delisle, Director of the • National Library in
Paris, viz. : — ' For the learned, who have studied and under-
stand this subject, the controversy is at an end, and in favour
of Thomas a Kempis.'

In my next communication I intend to discuss the
candidature of that literary phantom, the imaginary Bene-
dictine Abbot, John Gersen, of Vercelli. I shall endeavour
to do so with becoming gravity.

F. K. CRUISE, M.D:

A LIST OF CHURCH MUSIC

'T7UDES EX AUDITU,' says the Apostle; and his word has
been appropriately applied to the case of Church
music. For it is only by hearing proper Church music well
performed, that one can get the right idea of what it ought
to be. Theoretical reflections and studies are very useful to
prepare the ground ; but in order fully to appreciate that
which is suitable for divine service, the ear requires training,
and especially when by long practice our judgment has been
misled and falsified, only continued listening to good Church
music will overcome our prejudices, and enable us to form a
just estimate of what is really becoming to the house of
God.

But the text quoted holds also in the opposite direction.
One does not know what bad Church music means, until he
has heard it. We may be convinced, from printed and oral
information, that a great deal of unsuitable music is per-
formed in our churches. But we are not fully alive to the
fact, we do not fully realize the harm that is done, until we
get some practical experience for ourselves. It is experience

VOL. i. 2 E

434 THE IRISH ECCLESISATICAL RECORD

of this kind that has prompted me to write the following
lines. I have heard, within recent times, Church music that
is an outrage and a scandal ; I might almost say, a blasphemy;
for the character of that music would seem to presuppose
qualities in God that are derogatory to His sanctity. I have
heard such music even in convents of nuns. I have heard
those sacred virgins defile their lips with strains suitable
only for the expression of sentiments that they would utterly
abhor, the mere suggestions of which, in spoken language,
would make them blush and fly away. Is it the utter absence
of an appreciation of the fitness of things or the overpower-
ing influence of early associations and continued habitude
that make these things possible ? I do not know. But to
do away, to some extent, with one of the excuses given —
namely, want of knowledge of suitable compositions, I pro-
pose to give a list of such pieces as I think are most practical
for our present wants.

Not, indeed, as if no such list had been published before.
Not to speak of the catalogue of the German Cecilian Society,
with its upwards of two thousand numbers, there are two
such publications in English. First, Singeuberger's Guide.1
This magnificent work, the fruit of immense labour of the
President of the American Cecilian Society, gives, not only
a very large number of Masses for various combinations of
voices, as well as collections of motets, benediction pieces,
hymns, organ compositions, &c., but mentions for every
liturgical text, from one end of the ecclesiastical year to
the other, all the musical settings to be found in any of
those collections. Then there is within easy reach of any-
one the ' List of Music ' published by order of the Dublin
Diocesan Commission on Ecclesiastical Music, and issued
by Gill and Son at the price of sixpence. Since the publi-
cation of the last (second) edition of this list (in 1888 ), a good
many useful compositions have appeared ; and it is prin-
cipally these I shall mention in the following, including from
the Dublin list those that I consider most practical.

1 Guide in CatJiol'c Church Mt;sie. Published by ord^rof the First Provinci-il
. Council of Milwaukee and St. Paul :' with a Preface by Rt. Rev. Bishop M.
Marty, D.D., St. Francis, Wis. J. Singenbcrger. Price, 1 dul.

A LIST OF CHURCH MUSIC 435

As a preliminary note, it might be useful to explain a
few technical terms referring to different classes of voices,
as very hazy ideas are entertained about these things in
certain circles. We usually distinguish four classes of the
human voice, generally called — Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and
Bass. For the explanation of these names we have to go
back to the earliest times of part-singing, when the Plain-
chant melody was the principal part, to which other
melodies were added. The voice that sang the Plain Chant,
or Cantus Firmus, was called Tenor, from tenere, to hold.
A part added to this, usually above it, was called Discantus,
from the fact that it had a different melody. Another part,
added below the Tenor, was called Bassus, from jSaOvs, low.
Later on, a fourth part, added between Tenor and Dis-
cantus, was called Altus, because with reference to the
Tenor it was 'high.' The Discantus is also called shortly
Cantus, or Soprano, because it is the highest part, or, in
English, Treble, probably as the ' third ' of the parts added
to the Plain Chant. In the Middle Age, as even at the
present day in the Anglican Church choirs, the Alto, Tenor,
and Bass parts were sung by men, the Soprano part by boys.
Hence a composition for Alto, Tenor, and Bass was called
ad aequales, for equal voices. But also the combination
Soprano, Alto, and Tenor was designated by the same
name. In modern times the Alto part is usually sung by
female or boys' voices. These low female or boys' voices are
known in England by the name of Counter-Alto, or Con-
tralto, because their part is ' against ' or ' next to ' the
Alto part, their compass being somewhat higher than that
of the male Alto. For the same reason, the Alto is alco
sometimes called Counter-Tenor. The term ' equal voices,'
then, in modern times is restricted to combinations either of
Soprano and Alto, or of Tenor and Bass. To complete
these short remarks, I should mention farther that both in
the female and the male voice an intermediate class is
distinguished. Thus between the high female voice, the
Soprano, and the low female voice, the Alto, we have a
voice of middle range, the Mezzo-Soprano. And similarly,
between, the high male voice, the Tenor, and the low

436 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

male voice, the Bass, we have the middle voice, called
Barytone.

I now proceed to give my list, confining myself on the
present occasion to Masses with organ accompaniment. I
do hold indeed, and very decidedly hold, that vocal music
without accompaniment is the more ideal style of Church
music. But having regard to the actual condition of choirs
in this country, I should consider it lost labour to recom-
mend such music.

In proceeding from the simple to the complicated, the
first thing we should treat of would be Unison Masses with
organ accompaniment. There are a considerable number of
such Masses by composers of the Cecilian school. But
though I should not be prepared to say that there is no
artistic justification for compositions of this class, I cannot
induce myself to recommend any of them. I think that
where Unison Masses are desired, Gregorian Chant ought to
be used. Gregorian Chant, as nearly everybody now admits,
in theory at least, is the ideal of Church music. Nobody
can be considered a competent judge of Church music who
has not familiarized himself with this branch of it, and no
choir can be called a true church choir that does not appre-
ciate or cannot perform satisfactorily the Plain Chant. I
feel a certain reluctance, therefore, to recommend in its
place compositions that are in the same line with it, in so
far as they are unisonous.

The Ordinary of the Mass, of which we are speaking
primarily, is issued in various editions, in folio, from 12s. to
6s. ; in 8vo. at Id. or 5d. ; and in 16mo., in modern notation,
at 3d. All these editions contain the Asperges, Vide aquam,
thirteen ' Masses ' for the various festivals, four chants for
the Credo, the Eequiem Mass, and the Kesponses at Mass.
The smaller editions contain also the Pange Lingua, Veni
Creator, and Te Deiun, chants that are often desired.

Various organ accompaniments have been published for
these chants. Pustet has no less than three, by Witt,
Hanisch, and Mohr. Schwann of Diisseldorf published one
by Piel and Schmetz. On the ground of facility of execu-
tion, we should recommend the one edited by Mohr, which,
we understand, was written by Piel.

A LIST OF CHURCH MUSIC 437

We may mention in this connection, two other useful
little publications of Pustet's — namely, first, the Ma) male
Chorale (Price Is.), containing, in modern notation, the
Ordinarium Missae, the Sequences and the more popular
chants of Holy Week, the Office of the Dead and the
Burial Service, Processional Chants, Litanies, the Vesper
Hymns, the Chants of Compline, and several other useful
melodies and liturgical prayers ; secondly, the Graduate
Parvum, which was reviewed in the December Number of
the I. E. EECOBD, 1896.

A distinction is made between compositions for female
(or boys') and for male voices, and while some works will
suit both classes, others will not. I shall give only those
written for Soprano and Alto, the others not being much
required, as far as I know, in this country. The easiest of
these Masses are : —

Haller, op. 53, Missa Quintadecima (Pustet).
Jaspers, op. 9, ,, S. Caeciliae (Minister i.W. Schoningh).
Singenberger, „ ' Adoro te ' (Pustet).
„ „ S.Galli

Of more artistic value, and not difficult are : —

Griesbacher, Mass of our Lady of Lourdes (Katisbon,

Coppenrath).
Haller, op. 7a, Missa Tertia (Pustet).

,, op. 23, ,, Decima ,,

Koenen, op. 43, ,, S. Ursulae (Coppenrath).

Mittererer ,, ' Veni Sponsa Christi ' ,,

Piel, op 46, Easy Mass (Schwann).
Seymour, Mass of St. Brigid (Gary).
Stein, Br. op. 7, Missa Brevis (Coppenrath).
Weber, G., Easy Mass ,,

A little more difficult are : —

Ebner, Missa Ss. Cordis (Pustat).
Griesbacher, op. 11, Missa S. Caeciliae (Schwann).
Habert, op. 14, „ ' Exultet (Breitkopf andHartel)
„ op. 39, „ ' Veni Sponsa Christi ' „

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Haller, op. 8, Missa Quarto (Pustet)

Piel, op. 67, ,, ' Alma Eedemptoris Mater '

(Schwann).
„ op. 68, „ ' Ave Eegina Coelorum ' „

MASSES FOE THREE EQUAL VOICES

Griesbacher, Missa Ss. Cordis ^Coppenrath)
Haller, op. 13, ,, Sexta (Pustet)
Koenen, op. 57, ,, S. Scholasticae (Schwann).
Piel, op. 25, ,, Ss. Cordis ,,

op. 63, „ P..M.V.
„ S. Caeciliae (Ratisbon, Feuchtingcr and

Gleichauf).
Van Schaik, op. 3, ,, Gaudeamus (Qtrecht, Van Eossum).

MASSES FOR FOUR EQUAL VOICES

Griesbacher, op. 17b, Missa Angelica (Schwann).

Piel, op. 81, „ S. Annae ,,

Witt, op. 19b, „ Concilii Vaticani (Pustet).

MASSES FOR TWO MIXED VOICES

This class of Masses is not so frequently used as it
deserves. The effect of all the female and all the male voices
combining, is very good, giving considerable fulness even
with small choirs. The difficulties of performance, at the
same time, are considerably reduced on account of the small
number of parts to be learnt.

I recommend the following : —

Ebner, op. 7, Missa ' Laudato Dominum ' (Schwann)-

„ op. 14, ,, S. Joseph! (Pustet).

,, op. 28, „ ' Eegina Angelorum' ,,

Griesbacher, op. 16, ,, ' Salus Infirmorum ' (Schwann).

Haller, op. 62a, ,, S. Antonii (Coppenrath) .

Jan sen, op. 21, ,, ,, (Van Eossum).

Konen, op. 11, Mass in A (Coppenrath).

,, op. 39, Missa S. Heriberti ,,

Mitterer, op. 66, ,, Dominicalis Quarta ,,

Piel, op. 22, ,, S. Josephi (Schwann).

Plag, op. 15, „ S. Francisci Xav. .,

Quadflieg, op. 3, ,, Immac. Conceptions (Feuchtinger

and Gleichauf).

A LIST OF CHURCH MUSIC 439

MASSES FOE THREE MIXED VOICES

These Masses are usually either for Soprano, Alto, and
Bass or Barytone, or for Alto, Tenor, and Bass. I mention
here only those of the first-class.

Koenen, ]\iissa ' Panis Angelicus ' (Schwann).

Mitterer, op. 25, Dominicalis Frima (Pustet \

op. 47,
Singenberger,

,, Tertia (Coppenrath).

Pur. Cordis B.M.V. (Pustet)
S. Galli

S. JoannisB. ,,

S.Aloisii

In Singenberger's Masses the Bass part is ad libitum, so
that they can be used also for two equal voices.

MASSES FOR FOUE MIXED VOICES

Under this heading I mention first some Masses in which
the Tenor and Bass parts may be omitted.

Diebold, op. 18, Missa ' Adoro Te ' (Freiburg, Herder).

,, op. 38, ,, 'O sacrum Convivium' (Schwann).

Quadflieg, op. 8, ,, S. Caeciliae (Feuchtinger&Gleichaui).
Tappert ,, S. Eosae (St. Francis, "Wis., Singen-

berger).

In the following Masses the Tenor is ad libitum : —

Koenig, op. 10, Mass in C (Traunstein, Koenig),

,, • op. 14, Missa ' Salve Eegina ' ,, ,,

Singenberger, Missa Ss. Angelorum Custodum ^Pustet).

Of the Masses requiring all the four parts the easiest aie
these : —

Ebner, op. 6, Missa S. Mariae (Schwann).
Haller, op. 7b, Tertia (Pustet),

op. 13b,

op. 62b,
Mitterer, op. 67,

op. 71,
Stein, J. op. 76,

Sexta (Coppenrath),

S. Antonii ,,

Dominicalis Quinta „
,, Sexta ,,

S. Gregorii (Schwann).

440

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

The following are more difficult : —

Diebold,

op. 29. Missa Jubilaei Papalis (Herder).

Gruber,

op. 83b, „ S. Thomae (Pustet).

Habert,

Mass in G (Breitkopf and Haertel).

Haller,

op. 8b, Missa Quarta (Pustet).

Koenen,

op. 19, ,, S. Joannis Chrys. (Schwann).

Mitterer,

„ St. Thomae (Coppenrath).

)>

,, S. Caeciliae ,,

»

op. 70, ,, Ss. Cordis (Innsbruck, Gross).

Oberhoffer,

S. Wilfridi (Gary).

Tie),

op. 78, ,, S. Antonii (Schwann).

Quadflieg

op. 4, ,, S. Jacobi (Pustet).

Schildknecht,

op. 21, ,, ' Sub tuum Praesidium ,,

Seymour,

Mass in A flat (Gary)

Smith,

Missa Solemnis (Pohlmann).

Singenberger

,, S. Caeciliae (Pustet).

Stehle,

op. 33, ,, ' Jesu Rex Admirabilis ' ,,

>»

,, ' Salve Eegina' ,,

•i

op. 51, ,, 'Alma JJedemptoris ' ,,

Stein, J.

op 43, ,, Ss. Petri et Pauli (Schwann).

Witt,

op. 8b, ,, S. Francisci Xav. (Pustet).

»

op» 12, (Einsiedeln, Benziger).

Zoller,

op. 12, ,, De Spiritu Sancto (Schwann).

H. BEWEEUNGE.

[ 441 ]

THE ALLELUIAT 0 HYMN OF ST. CUMMAIN

FOTA

TO an Irish student of Alleluia's course through Christian
literature as evidence of its traditional import, I know
of no document more interesting than this hymn of
St. Cummain Fota, Bishop and Abbot of Clonfert during
much of the first half of the seventh century : that crowning
age of our country's past literary and apostolic glory. He
was called Fota or ' the Tall,' not, it would appear, so much
for his exceptionally high stature as to distinguish him from
a writer of the same name who flourished a little later; was
Abbot of Hy ; wrote the life of St. Columba, and is com-
monly known as Cummain Finn or 'the Fair.' For all
known details touching his life and writings, the reader is
referred to the Most Eev. Dr. Healy's Insula- Sanctorum et
Doctorum — that delightful survey of the lives of Ireland's
saints and scholars, which ought' to be found in the library
and in the parish library of every priest with a drop of Celtic
blood in his veins wherever on earth his mission lies. I
notice, by the way, our saint's name is there invariably
written Cummian (not Cummain) and Fada (not Fota).
In the Annals of the Four Masters it is written Cummine
Foda, and in a Kann or short poem, which they quote as
composed on his death by Colman O'Clusaigh, his old tutor
when a student in (the original) St. Finbarr's Seminary,
Cork, his name is written Cummine Foto. But in the
Liber Hymnorum, where I read his hymn, the name is written
as I have given it. The ancient scholiast's preface thus
commences : — :' Cummain Fota Mac Fiachna Ei larmuman
(King of West Munster), ille fecit liunc yrnnum.'

From the start it would, of course, be well to have before
the mind some general idea of his character. For that it
will suffice to note that he was admittedly one of the most
learned and cultured, as well as saintly, personages of the
glorious period in which he lived. Indeed, in the commemora-
tion poem, to which reference has been made, as found in the

442 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Annals of the Four Masters, he is declared to have been the
only Irishman of the day qualified to ' sit in the Chair of
Gregory " (that is, St. Gregory the Great), who died during
his lifetime. Remembering what St/Gregory was, and who
were the Irish Churchmen of that day, we can appreciate
the testimony thus offered at once to bis personal sanctity,
talent, learning, culture, and administrative ability —
' qualifications,' it must be admitted, to any great extent
very rarely found in one person, but which we gratefully
acknowledge are found in the person of him who to-day sits
in the Chair of Gregory the Great.

In our ecclesiastical history St. Cummain's memory is
principally associated with that of the famous controversy
regarding the proper time for celebrating Easter, when it
was the burning question of the day in Ireland. Having
accepted the Roman custom at or after the Synod of
Campus Lene, while so many of his Order throughout the
land yet stoutly, if not stubbornly, maintained the other,
he wrote Segienus, the then Abbot of Hy, a long letter by
way of apologia, which is, in many respects, the most
important historic document we have on the question. Its
Latin is neither classical nor scholastic ; it. is, in fact, sui
generis; but apart from its linguistic form, which naturally
we are now incapable of appreciating, its varied learning,
sound sense, logical sequence and sustained vigour of
expression, with occasional bursts of real eloquence, make
it one of the finest pieces of polemic writing of the period.
The whole may be read in Migne's Patrologia Cursus Com-
pletus, vol. Ixxxvii., p. 969. There also may be seen a work
on moral theology entitled Liber de Mensura Poenitentia-
rum, which is attributed to our saint : though some thinK
it is by an Irish writer of the same or a similar name.

There is no doubt as to St. Cummain being the Author
of the hymn which is the subject of the present article.
Still it is not found, as far as I know, anywhere outside the
collection known to Irish archaeologists as Liber Hymno-
rum, of which one MS. copy is preserved in Trinity College
Library, and another in the Franciscan Library of this
City : both copies being said as MSS. to belong to the ninth

THE ALLELUIATIC HYMN OF ST. CUMMAIN FOTA 443

or tenth century. In his puhlished edition of the Trinity
College Codex, Dr. Todd says : ' This beautiful MS., which
cannot be assigned to a later date than the ninth or tenth
century, may safely be pronounced one of the most venerable
monuments of Christian antiquity now remaining in
Europe.' Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology, assumes
the MS. belongs to the eleventh century, and that is also the
opinion of Dr. Whitley Stokes. But, in face of such assump-
tion, we should not fail to remember that O'Donovan, our
highest authority on such subjects, agreed with Dr. Todd.

In the' preface from which I have just quoted the
latter continues : — ' It was ascertained that an ancient copy
of it [the Lib. Hymn.] which had formerly belonged to the
Franciscan monastery, at Donegal, is preserved in the
Library of St. Isidore's College, at Borne.' The Codex to
which he there alludes, and which is clearly no copy of the
Trinity College one, is that now to be found in the Francis-
can Library of this City. I see it stated in Julian's
Dictionary (p. 570), that besides these two, there is a
third in the Royal Irish Academy. There is not. There is
no other known to exist anywhere. Some hymns from
the collection were published by Colgan, and have been
frequently printed; but, in the Preface to his edition of
Trinity College Codex, Dr. Todd states — and, naturally, he
ought to know — that this hymn of St. Cummain is there
' printed for the first time.'

Of the two Codices, the Franciscan seems to be the older.
But the Trinity College copy is abundantly annotated,
seemingly by the original copyist : the Franciscan one, not
at all. Both collections differ considerably "as to their con-
tents. The difference of reading, however, in regard to this
hymn — the only one for which I have collated the two
copies — is very slight. In the Index, as in the scholiast's
Preface, it is named from the first two words, Celebra Juda.
It is, in reality, a sequence of twenty-two verses, in praise of
the Apostles, the Evangelists, St. Patrick, and St. Stephen
Protomartyr. To each is given a lauding stanza of two
lines ; every stanza or distich having Alleluia for refrain, like
0 filii et ftliae, our prayer-book hymn for Easter. Every

444 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

line consists of twelve syllables, the last syllable of each one
presenting a more or less perfect rhyme or assonance with
the last of the other line of the stanza. The assonance,
however, is rarely confined to the last syllable ; it usually
runs through the line, sometimes through the stanza. In
this way, the versification is very interesting as a sample,
and, it seems to me, an advanced sample of that period of
transition from the old style's simply measured feet, to the
regulated accent and rhyming cadence of the new- The
language it must be admitted, even for northern Latin of the
seventh century, is curiously unclassical ; yet with a peculiar
music of its own, as might have the Latin verse of one used
to write in Irish. A reader wholly ignorant of the technique
of its versification may catch a true verbal music of some
kind running through the lines ; notably in the regulated
play of consonants and vowels. The writer had evidently
a lyrist's ear for the melody and harmony of words, in
particular for what the French so aptly term le cliquetis des
mots. But what most arrests the reader's attention is the
lyric unity of the whole : first, the writer's self-restrained
expression through each part, the manifestly compressed
thought and feeling of its two line stanzas so as to produce
a real sequence, not a mere musical enumeration of per-
fections ; then, the way the old Hebrew refrain, both as to
thought and sound, fits in with the last line of each saint's
eulogium.1

Was this hymn of St. Cummain ever used for liturgical
purposes ? It seems to have been, as it is given in the two
extant MS. copies of our Liber Hymnorum which is clearly
an ecclesiastical Hymnarium or Hymnal, not a mere literary

1 In Julian's Dictionary, p. 570, under the heading 'Irish Hymnody,'
when noticing the Hymns of Liber Hymnorum, St. Cummain's is as incorrectly
as it is briefly noticed thus : ' a Hymn of St. Cummin Lange, A.D. 661 , in rhyme,
in praise of the Apostles, who are named successively, four lines being devoted
to each.' Whereupon the first verse (observe, like all the others, having only
two lines) is given, and that without Alleluia. More, neither there nor else-
where is any indication afforded as to its being in any way Alleluiatic, though
the Dictionary's account 'of Alleluiatic Hymns is otherwise fairly complete.
Then, among its numerous biographical notices of all sorts of hymn writers,
ancient and modern, there is not a line given to the life or character of
St. Cummain Fota. So much for that voluminous Hymnological Dictionary's
treatment of ' Irish Hymnody.'

THE ALLELUIATIC HYMN OF ST CUMMAIN FOTA 445

anthology. Its extra-stanzal Alleluia for refrain confirms
this opinion ; as does the carefully-worded, almost dog-
matic language of each verse. It derives moreover particular
support from a versicle, response, antiphon and collect
added to the text in the Trinity College Codex, and it is fur-
ther borne out by the non-subjective — wholly objective,
solemn, acclamatory character of the piece from the opening
to the end : just such as would be that of a festive paeon.
Finally its scriptural language and structure apparently
proclaim it intended for such public service of song. Thus,
from the first, the motif is revealed as being that of the
Prophet Nahum's Messianic appeal : ' Ecce super monies
pedes evangelizantis, et anuntiantis pacem : celebra Juda,
festivitatea tuas, et redde vota tua ! ' 1 In the spirit of that
prophetic utterance, realizing its glorious accomplishment,
and calling on ' Juda ' through the mystic acclamation of her
ancient liturgy to join in proclaiming the Messiah's glory,
while singing forth the praises of His saints, the hymn thus
finely opens : —

Celebra, Juda, festa. Christi gaudia,2
Apostolorum exultans memoria : Alleluia ! 3

Then commence the lauds of the Apostles named in
the order in which they occur in the 10th chapter of

1 Ecce super monies pedes evangelizantis, &c. The Prophet' s apparent
allusion is to the custom of sending explorers to the heights in front of an
advancing army. The ideal rapprochement between these ' Pioneers ' and the
Apostles of Christendom is highly effective. Compare St. Paul to the Romans
(x. 15), ' Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem,' &c. It will thus be
seen that St. Cummain chose a decidedly strong text for inspiring motive of his
' Hallel ' in praise of the Apostles. The text is found at the end of the first
chapter of Nahum (i. 15), according to the actual arrangement of the Vulgate's
text ; but at the beginning of the next chapter, according to that of our printed
Hebrew Bible. The English Protestant version, contrary to its custom, here

. follows the textual arrangement of the Vulgate.

2 ' Celebra Juda festa, &c.' — Seemingly a lyric echo of the Hebrew, of
Nahum's fine rhythmic utterance : Haggai Jehouddh haggaide, &c.

In his letter on the Paschal controversy, St. Cummain writes as one to
some extent acquainted with the Hebrew tongue; hence, having taken the
tone-thought of his hymn from the text of Nahum, the rhythm of his own
would naturally be influenced by the eminently tunefuHanguage of that perhaps
most melodious of the sacred writers.

3 ' Alleluia ' is not annexed to this first verse in Dr. Todd's edition of the
Trinity College Codex. I have put it there, as it is there in the Franciscan
Codex and there evidently ought to be. Its omission from the Trinity College
Codex, is among the proof -j that the Franciscan one is no copy of that.

446 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

St. Matthew, except that Madianus (old Irish way of writing
Matthias) is put in place of the traitor Judas, and the laud
of St. Paul comes immediately after that of St. Peter : —

Claviculari1 Petri primi pastoris,
Piscium rete evangelii captoris : Alleluia !

Decidedly Roman Catholic that is. But as decidedly
Irish Catholic is the laud immediately following that of
Luke the Evangelist : —

Patricii Patris obsercramus merita,

Ut Deo digna perpetremus opera : Alleluia ! ?

The concluding stanza is singularly archaic, and, as a
distich, notable for its compact lyrical homage to the ' Three
in One/ which, be their subject what it may, the old hymn-
writers of our shamrock-taught Church so rarely omitted : —

Gloria Patri atque unigenito

Simul regnanti Spiritu cum agio :* Alleluia !

The way the Hebrew word thus comes in for acclaiming
refrain throughout the piece shows how thoroughly the
Irish Catholic mind of that age had assimilated the thought
of its being pre-eminently the Christian's paschal acclama-
tion. Here recalling the historic stand St. Cummain made
for the Roman, the Catholic, the Apostolic, as distinct from
the partial, sectarian, mere national side of the paschal
controversy, which was the burning question of his time
and country, we cannot deem it only a literary coincidence
that his life's hymn was in honour of the Apostles and

1 ' Clavicular! ' for Clavicularii. Clavicularius, literally meaning ' he who
holds the little-key,' is not precisely classical, yet appears to have been generally
used in the fourth century to denote a turnkey, one whose province it is to let
the condemned remain locked up or let them go free. Finnicus Maternus so
used it (340). Its special Christian application to St. Peter is not, as some have
thought, peculiar to St. Cummain. St. Clemens is called Ccelcatis Clavicularii
successor by St. Aldhom, De l&ude Virginitatis, n. 2*.

2 In a versicle following the text of the Hymn on the Trinity College Codex
St. Patrick's position is still higher. It is among the Apostles and immediately
after St. Paul. The words are : — ' Per merita et orationem intercessionemque
Sancti Petri et Pauli et Patricii caeterorumque apostolorum.' &c.

3 ' Agio. ' This Greek word in place of Saneto is not unusual in utterances
of Celtic and Gallic origin. Indeed, in letters as well as words, our ancient
literature for a long time bore the impress of its connection with the early
Church of Gaul, which, in language and liturgy it is said, was originally Greek,
and never wholly lost the Giecian forma verborum.

THE ALLELUIATIC HYMN OF ST. CUMMAIN FOTA 447

St. Patrick, and had Easter's triumphant acclamation for
refrain. This I hold to be all the more noteworthy, that, in
Christian literature, as far as I am aware, no hymn had that
acclamation for refrain before. Indeed, as far as I know,
St. Cummain's is every way the oldest Alleluiatic hymn in
existence, taking the term ' hymn ' in its actually received
liturgical sense as distinct from ancient 'psalm,' on the one
hand, or Christian ' antiphon ' on the other, and taking
'Alleluiatic' as meaning either one having the sacred
acclamation for subject matter, as Alleluia dulce carmen! or
only employing it for refrains, like 0 filii et filice.

For some, the oldest in existence (by which, of course,
is meant the oldest now known to hymnologists) is the
tenth century ' Alleluiatic Sequence' of Gotteschalchus, or,
as many say, of Notker, commencing, Cantemus cuncti
melodum nunc Alleluia ! Generally, however. I find the
oldest is assumed to be the anonymous hymn of the ancient
Mozarabic liturgy of Spain : Alleluia piis edite laudabusf
with its solemn refrain, Alleluia perenne! This eminently
spiritual lyric of the ages of faith is now extremely popular
with Protestants of every denomination in its English
version : " Sing Alleluia forth in duteous praise ! " No
doubt that version is well done, fairly literal, tuneful, and, as
verse, artistic. Moreover, the general Christian character
of the whole harmonizes well with the prevailing popular
mode of religious thought in English-speaking countries at
present. Still its popularity there, in some quarters at
least, seems greatly due to the belief that the original is the
oldest of the Alleluiatic hymns. It is certainly as old as
the ' Alleluiatic Sequence ' above mentioned. In his
Dictionary, Dr. Julian says that in the Hymnarium
Sarisburgense various readings of it are given ' from three
old MSS. of the tenth or eleventh century; ' and Mone, in his
Hymni Medii avi, states that the text of it there given is
copied from ' a Munich MS. of the tenth century.' There is no
proof of its being older than that. Yet, some assign to it a
much earlier date, grounded on more or less likely hymnolo-
gical assumptions of their own. Of these the only plausible
one I can find at all to the point is that ' it was included in

448 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

the Mozarabic Breviary, in which no hymns were admitted
which are of later date than the eighth century .' Even so,
my position in regard to St. Cummain's hymn remains
untouched. Then, instead of such more or less debatable
personal speculations, we have the undeniable facts that
Celebra Juda is at present to be seen in Dublin MSS. of
the ninth or tenth, or, at latest, eleventh century, and is
there given, not as an anonymous production, or one of
uncertain age, but is distinctly ascribed to an author known
to have been born towards the end of the sixth century, an
ascription that independent data of traditional and docu-
mentary evidence fully confirm. I venture, therefore, to
assert that the oldest Alleluiatic hymn in existence is
not Germany's, or Spain's, but Ireland's. It is that of
St. Curnmain Fota.

T. J. O'MAHONY, D.D.

SERMON OR HOMILY

WHEN preaching the Word of God is spoken of, we hear
' sermon ' most frequently mentioned. Yet it does
not suggest itself to most persons that the Word of God
was preached and spread throughout the world, much more
by the 'homily' and 'prone' than by the 'sermon.' As
we shall see in this article, the explanation of the
Scriptures has been given to the people by the great
expounders of Catholic doctrine, according to the method of
the ' homily,' and that what we mean by the ' sermon,' is of
more modern introduction and use. By sermon, I mean a
solemn religious instruction, in which one endeavours to
follow the rules which rhetoric gives for oratorical discourses ;
by the homily, a simple and pious explanation, a sort of
paraphrase of the Gospel or Epistle from which one draws
moral reflections for the edification of the audience.

The fathers of the Church in their homilies or instructions
had solely in view the explication of the Scriptures. These
men of God were impressed with the fundamental truth,

SERMON OR HOMILY 449

that the Christian doctor's duty was to preach the Gospel,
and that the sacred writings are explained by themselves,
far better than by mere human reasonings. This maxim
brought the fathers of the Church into the method of
instruction which we call ' homily.' As the ' homily'
explains the Scripture, verse for verse, following the order of
an entire book, or at least of a chapte'r or sufficiently long
passage, the teacher of the Gospel from the frequent
repetition of the sacred text, which he compared and
illustrated by other rarts of the Bible, finally appropriated,
not only the spirit, but also the style and figures of our
Holy Books. That happy mingling of Divine Wisdom and
human eloquence which we find in the sacred orators, and
which St. Augustine regards as the ideal of preaching, gives
to the ancient homilies both grace of diction, and justness
of thought. Nature alone seems to speak in them, while
art is carefully concealed.

In latter ages, what we call the discourse seems to stifle
the principles of faith in an ocean of opinions of men ; and
hence preachers began to sacrifice Divine Wisdom to
rhetoric. The consequence of this change in the manner of
instructing the faithful, is that men of ordinary talent, not
being aided by the grandeur of the Scriptures, fall into a
simplicity of language that savours of ignorance and gross-
ness, while gifted minds employing the resources of rhetoric,
compose discourses such as awake the suspicions of the
audience that it is themselves rather than their Divine Master
who is preached.

Let us trace the method of preaching employed by the
fathers of the Church, contrasting it with the modern
style. In ancient times when the faithful were assembled, the
Lector ascending the " arnbo," read a lesson from the Old
Testament, then one from the New, i.e., from the Acts of the
Apostles and the Epistles ; but the reading of the Gospel
was reserved to the priests or deacons. In Eome, and in
most of the Oriental churches, the Scripture was read in two
languages, in other places in the vernacular. The reading
was followed by the instruction. The Prelate explained
either the Gospel or some other part of Scripture, using a
VOL. i. 2 F

450 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

book for that purpose. If the explication was verse for
verse, he selected the most important parts. "We have
examples of continued explications in most of the homilies
of St. John Chrysostom. The treatises of St. Augustine on
St. John and on the Psalms, may be considered as good
specimens of this method of preaching of the fathers. In
St. Ambrose, we have examples of principal subjects chosen
and treated continuously ; such are his works on the Six
Days, his treatises on Noe and Abraham and the other
illustrious saints of the ancient Testament, all which are
treated scripturalhj. And by these homilies of the fathers
we can see that the order in which the lessons from
Scripture was read, was then much the same as it is now
disposed in the ecclesiastical year. Then, as now, it was so
arranged as to honour by the successive festivals the several
mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ. The greater part of
such treatises, and the commentaries of the fathers on the
Sacred Scriptures, are nothing else than discourses delivered
to the people, and afterwards written down.

Thus we see the homily in its origin was a dogmatic and
moral explication of the readings of the Scripture before the
assembled faithful. This method has left profound traces
in the Roman liturgy, and in sacred eloquence.

After eighteen centuries, modern preachers commenced
their sermons by the reading and translation of a passage of
the Bible. Now, this text was a shred of the ancient
homily. ' You see clearly,' Fenelon says in his dialogues of
eloquence, that the " texts " come from this, that pastors in
ancient times never spoke to the people on their own
authority ; they only explained to the people the words of
Scripture. Insensibly the custom was introduced of not
following the words of the Gospel, when only one part was
explained which was called the "text" of the sermon.'
Although the Archbishop of Cambray permitted the use of
the sermon, he regretted the neglect of the ancient
homily.

You can make sermons [he remarks] on the Holy
Scriptures, without explaining the Scripture ; but it would be
quite another thing if the pastors, following the ancient usage,

SERMON OR HOMILY 451

explained in a succinct manner the Holy Books to the people.
Consider what great authority would that man have, who saying
nothing of his own invention, should but follow and explain the
words of God Himself. Moreover, he would do two things at
once ; in explaining the truths of Scripture, he would explain the
text, and accustom the faithful always to join the meaning with
the letter. What an advantage to accustom them to nourish
themselves with this sacred food !

Thus the great Archbishop counsels us when about to
compose a sermon, to take the most important words and
those most adapted to our audience ; to give a clear explana-
tion of them ; to show their connection with those that
precede and those that follow : in a word, to imitate in the
sermon what is most characteristic of the homily. It would
seem to be desired that now-a-days Christian preachers
should resume the ancient method of the fathers of the
Church, being persuaded that they will find nothing better,
and it is scarcely permitted the Christian doctor to forget
the first mode of teaching which the interpreters of the
Gospel employed. The law of prayer is a law of belief. But
it is more ; it is an historical monument. Now, the Roman
Breviary, in the offices of nine lessons, puts before us in the
first nocturn a lesson taken from the different books of the
Bible except the Gospels. The following nocturn always
contains the instruction or commentary of the Scriptures
which was read to the assembled people. Finally, the last
nocturn gives the Gospel of the day, and is followed by the
homily.

We may read in St. John Chrysostom the order which
the first fathers of the Church adopted in the composition
and delivery of their homilies to the people. St. John
Chrysostom. whom Fenelon names a great orator, and who
is, according to Bossuet, the most eloquent father of the
Church, owed in part to the sublimity of his genius his
oratorical triumphs, as well as to the teaching of his master
and the sanctity of his life ; but, also, we cannot deny that
his method contributed in a large measure to the beauty of
his instructions. The following is the way the illustrious
orator of Constantinople proceeded. He read, or caused to
be read, before his aud'eiice the passage of Scripture which

452 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

was to be the object of his discourse. After the reading, the
Bishop delivered a simple and literal commentary of the
Word of God. When he perceived that his hearers had
seized the meaning of the words, he gave free range to his
oratorical gifts, employing all his wisdom and learning to
persuade the people to quit some vice or practise some
virtue.

St. John Chrysostom appears [says Fleury] to be the most
accomplished model of a preacher. He ordinarily began by
explaining the Scripture, verse after verse, as the lector read it,
always choosing the most literal sense, and that most useful for
the people. He finished by a moral exhortation which often has
not a very intimate connection with the preceding instruction,
but which is always adapted to the most pressing needs of his
hearers, according to the knowledge which this wise and vigilant
pastor had of them. He attacked the vices one after another,
and did not cease combatting one until he had vanquished or
notably weakened it.

Eemark that St. John Chrysostom imitates in his method
the example given by Jesus Christ Himself. Let us read the
fourth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, vv. 16-20. There we
see that in the synagogue of the Jews, as in the Christian
Church, under the Old as well as under the New Law, from the
time of Jesus Christ, as from the time of the Apostles and
their successors, the text of the Word of God was read while
standing, and that it is the unique theme of religious
instruction. When the passage proposed for commentary
was sufficiently understood by the hearers, the book was
closed and returned to its place. Then the Divine Master
gave the literal sense of the text of Isaiah, and showed that
the promise of the prophecy was realized in the person of
Him who spoke to them at that moment in the name of
God. His teaching, though of a simple kind, excited the
admiration of the assembly, for truth pleases of itself; it
shines before the eyes of our minds. But after the literal
commentary, he delivered a moral exhortation to the inhabi-
tants of Nazareth.

As long as our Saviour confined Himself to the simple
exposition of the text of Isaiah, the words full of grace which
came from His mouth agreeably astonished His fellow-citizens

SERMON OR HOMILY 453

of Nazareth; but when he came to the practical exhortation,
then these men, who knew of the miracles at Capharnaum,
were irritated by the word and doctrine of the Preacher,
and rushed to cast Him from the summit of the mountain.
We see hereby that Jesus Christ, in the synagogue of His
native place, traced the programme followed later on by
St. John Chrysostom and the other fathers of the Church.

This rapid glance at the history of the homily inspires a
great confidence in the primitive mode of preaching. Can
we treat with levity a method of instruction which the
synagogue respected even before the coming of Jesus Christ,
which our Divine Master consecrated by the authority of
His word, which the Apostles and fathers, and those imme-
diately following them, cultivated into vigour, which the
Church honours in the sacred monument of her liturgy,
which modern preachers recall but only to condemn them-
selves from their own mouths by the frequent employment
of the text of their sermon ? Should the usage of the homily
be entirely lost, would it not rightly be accounted a great
fault and omission ; and if our century has specious motives
for preferring the sermon, is it necessary that the actual
method should break completely with venerable and
authentic traditions?

JEROME O'CONNELL, O.D.C.

[ 454 j

IRotes anb (Slueriee

THEOLOGY

APPLICATION OF A REQUIEM MASS FOB WHICH NO
HONORARIUM IS RECEIVED

REV. DEAR SIR, — It sometimes happens that I have to say a
liequiem Mass, for which I receive no honorarium. May I apply
such a Mass — (1) pro defuncto ex devotione ; (2) pro defuncto ob
stipendium ; and (3) pro vivo et ob stipendium. . . . . An answer
at your convenience in the I. E. RECORD will oblige.

A SUBSCRIBER.

Assuming, as you convey, that you are not otherwise
bound, either in obedience or in justice, to apply this Mass
for a specific purpose, you are free to apply it, at your dis-
cretion, and you may even satisfy by this liequiem Mass
an obligation ex stipendio aut pro vivo aut pro defuncto.

The following reply was given by the Sacred Congrega-
tion of the Council, 27th April, 1895 :—

An sacerdos in exequiis persolvendis missam celebrans, non
recepto stipendio, debeat pro ipso defuncto, vel potius pro-aliis
petentibus et eleemosynam offerentibus sacrificium applicare
queat ? Negative ad primum, affirmative ad secundum.

The Congregation of Bites had given the following
response, 13th October, 1856 : —

An liceat Sacerdotibus uti paramentis nigris et celebrare
Missam de Requie ut satisfaciant obligation! quam susceperunt
celebrandi pro vivis ? Affirmative, modo non diverse praescrip-
serit qui dedit eleemosynam.

According to these replies, our correspondent is perfectly
free to apply the Requiem Mass in question in discharge of
any obligation ex stipendio, unless there be some special
condition to the contrary imposed by the person offering the
stipend.

NOTES AND QUERIES 455

RESERVED SIN OF A ' PEREGKRINTJS '

EEV. DEAE Sm, — A peregrinus confesses to me a sin which i?
not reserved in his, a neighbouring, diocese, but is reserved in
this diocese, where the confession is heard. Can I absolve ?
Lshmkuhl says : —

Practice sic statui potest, ut peregrinum absolvere liceat, nisi
aut — 1, peccatum reservatum sit in utrobique, i,e., in loco confes-
sionis et in loco domicilii poenitentis aut — 2, poenitens in fraudem
legis i.e., ut sese judicio sui Superioris subducat, in alienam
dioecesim se transtulerit.1

If my penitent does not come in fraudem legis, it would
appear that I have jurisdiction.

VICAKIUS.

Our correspondent's question touches an old controversy.
Whence does a confessor derive the jurisdiction in virtue of
which he absolves a peregrinus ? Does the jurisdiction come
through the bishop of the penitent, or through the bishop of
the place in which the Confession is heard? There are, of
course, patrons of each opinion. And there are many,
Lehmkuhl among them, who contend that both opinions
are probable ; and that, consequently, apart from the case
in which the penitent comes in fraudem legis, a confessor
will have, at least, probable jurisdiction over a reserved
sin of a peregrinus, unless the sin be reserved in both
dioceses. A confessor who exercises such probable juris-
diction will certainly absolve validly, and, according to
Lehmkuhl and others, lawfully as welL

From the point of view of the general law of the Church,
we do not see any reason to find fault with the practical
conclusion quoted from Lehmkuhl. A confessor could, we
think, validly absolve a peregrinus who has not come in
fraudem legis unless his. sin be reserved in patria et in loco
confessionis.

But, with us in Ireland, this conclusion must be modified
on one point — that raised by our correspondent. In this
country, a peregrinus cannot be absolved in a place where

!Vol. ii.,n. 403.

456 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

his sin is reserved, on the plea that the sin is not reserved
in his own diocese. For, in the Synod of Maynooth it was
enacted — ' Casus reservatus in diocesi confessarii non sub-
trahitur reservationi ea de causa quod non reservetur in
diocesi poenitentis.' l

With us, in this country, then, as long as the rule of the
Synod has not been changed, the practical rule is ' pere-
grinus judicandus est secundum legem loci confessionis ;' a
confessor treats peregrini like the penitents of his own
diocese, unless the peregrini come infraudemlegis. Hence,
he cannot absolve a peregrinus — (1) from a sin reserved in
both dioceses ; or (2) from a sin reserved in loco confessionis
only; or (3) when the penitent comes infraudem legis.

THE COLLATION ON FASTING DAYS

REV. DEAR Sm, — Would you kindly give your opinion on
the following practical point in the next number of the I. E.
EECOED, and oblige.

A SUBSCRIBER,

You are aware that our poor people generally cannot take
advantage of the privilege granted them by Rome of using butter
at the collation, for the all-sufficient reason that they can't get it
at the season. They often use instead one egg, about which they
afterwards have troubles of conscience, and make it a matter of
confession. It has often struck me that it may be objectively only
a small sin, even for those strictly bound to fast. I know that
unum ovum gallinaceum is considered a gravis materia ; but if
the quantity of butter which people are allowed to use with bread
at the collation were deducted from this amount, it would
certainly reduce the unum ovum gallinaceum, or gravis materia,
within the limits of parvitas materice, and so constitute it only a
venial sin.

What say you to this reasoning ?

It may be that many of the. persons concerned are
altogether excused from fast and abstinence. But, one who is
bound to fast and abstain cannot lawfully use at the collation
the substitution theory put forward in this question.

Nothing is permitted at the collation except what custom
allows. Anything in regard to quantity or quality beyond

1 De Pocnitentia, p. 84.

NOTES AND QUERIES 457

what custom sanctions is a violation of the fast, and may
be a violation of the abstinence. Moreover, grave matter is
to be estimated without reference to what one voluntarily or
involuntarily foregoes.

Our correspondent's argument would equally warrant
two or more eggs, if only a person. were to diminish the
quantity of bread taken ; or some ounces of meat, on the
morning of a fast day, if one chose to make his collation
consist solely of meat.

ABSOLUTION OF A PERSON ABOUT TO CONTRACT A
MIXED MARRIAGE

DEAR EEV. SIR, — Can a priest absolve a man or a woman
who is intending to marry a Protestant, which Protestant does not
intend to become a Catholic ? Dr. Feye says he cannot ; but not
having Dr. Feye's Treatise on Matrimony at hand, I cannot
verify this statement. An answer in your next will oblige.

W.S.

It is gravely unlawful for a Catholic to marry a heretic,
and that usually for two reasons : 1. There is grave danger
to the faith of the Catholic party and to the faith of the
offspring of the marriage. This danger, however, may, in
certain cases, wholly (?) or partially cease. 2. These mar-
riages are strictly forbidden by the Church. Where the
danger to the faith of the Catholic party and the offspring
is removed, or made remote, the Church, for grave cause,
may dispense in the ecclesiastical law : —

1. The confessor, therefore, is, in the first place, bound to
dissuade a Catholic from a mixed marriage.

2. If, however, he does not succeed in preventing the
marriage, he is not bound to treat his penitent as indisposed,
where — (1) the danger of perversion can and will be made
remote ; (2) where there is a just cause for dispensation ;
and (3) the penitent is prepared to seek a dispensation, and
is determined not to marry in case it be refused.

3. The confessor must, of course, treat his penitent as
indisposed — (1) if the danger of perversion cannot be made
remote, or will not ; (2) if there be no sufficient cause for a

458 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

dispensation ; (3) if the penitent will not seek a dispensation ;
or (4) if the penitent is prepared to go on with the marriage
even though the dispensation be refused.

D. MANNIX.

[NOTE. — We find it quite impossible to deal with the number of questions
sent in. We are reluctantly compelled to hold over to the next or future
numbers several important questions.

The misprint of ' desires ' for ' defines,' in the last number, on page 350,
three lines from foot of page, made the sentence in which it occurs almost
unintelligible.]

LITURGY

A BLASPHEMOUS LEAFLET

SEVEEAL times within the past few years have copies of a
so-called prayer been sent to us, with a request that we
would give our opinion of it in these pages. But the
' prayer ' itself, its history, the promises made to those
who believe in it and use it, and the threats pronounced
against those ' who dare to doubt, are such a compound of
ignorance or diabolical malice and blasphemy, that we
hesitated to sully our pages by even referring to it. More-
over, we did not believe that any Catholic able to read
could be so ignorant or so credulous as to be deceived for a
moment by such a blasphemous jumble. Quite recently,
however, we have obtained reliable evidence that this
outrage on religion and common sense is actually printed in
Dublin, and in more than one place in this Catholic city.
One printer has been rash enough or ignorant enough to
print his name and address in the usual way on the leaflet.
Others, however, more cunning, issue the leaflet anony-
mously, but at the same time sell it to the very ignorant
and very credulous for the sum of a halfpenny per copy.
Inquiries have convinced us that this production has a
large circulation not only in Dublin, but in many towns,
villages, and parishes in Ireland and elsewhere. And we
have even been told that nuns have been known to send
copies of it to their relatives and friends, and, worae still, to
recommend it to their pupils. We have too much respect,

NOTES AND QUERIES 459

however, for the intelligence, not to speak of the education,
of our nuns to believe this charge. It is a calumny we are
certain, and we mention it merely for the purpose of putting
nuns on their guard against circulating or encouraging any
prayer or other form of devotion which has not the requisite
approval of the Church. This leaflet, we need hardly remark,
bears no trace of ecclesiastical approval of any kind.
Subjoined will be found two versions of this ' prayer '
which have been sent to us within the past few weeks.
They are here printed, so far as grammar, punctuation, and
spelling are concerned precisely as they are found in the
leaflets. It will be seen that those who are responsible for
the issue of these leaflets are as ignorant of the elementary
rules of English composition as they are of theology and
history. How anyone able to read it, could be deceived by
such a farrago of blasphemous nonsense and bad grammar
is utterly incomprehensible. But what is to be said of the
publishers '? Do they deserve the support of Catholics, or
of Christians ? We think not ; and if we find that the
circulation of this disgraceful- leaflet has not completely
ceased we will give to the public in these pages and else-
where the names, now in our possession, of those who have
lent themselves to its publication and dissemination.

THIS PEAYER WAS FOUND ON THE GRAVE OF OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST, AND SENT FROM THE POPE TO THE. EMPEROR CHARLES
AS HE WAS GOING TO BATTLE FOR HIS SAFETY

They who shall repeat this Prayer, or be present when it is
repeated, or keep it about them, shall never die a sudden death , nor
be drowned in water, nor shall they fall into the hands of their
enemies, nor be burned in any fire, nor shall be overpowered in
battle, nor shall poison take any effect on them ; and it being read
over a woman in labour, she shall be safely delivered, and be a
glad mother, and when the child is born, lay this Prayer on his
or her right side, and he or she will not be troubled with thirty-
two misfortunes, and if you see anyone in the fits, lay this Prayer
on his or her right side, and he or she shall stand up and thank
you ; and he that shall write this from house to house shall be
blessed from the Lord ; and they who laugh at it shall suffer : —

THE PRAYER

0 Adorable Lord and Saviour of Christ, lying on the gallows
tree for our sins ! 0 holy Cross of Christ, steer me in all truth,

460 THE. IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

protect me from my enemies ! O holy Cross of Christ, protect
me in my right road to happiness ! 0 holy Cross of Christ, ward
off from me all dangerous deaths and give me life always !
O crucified Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me, that the bad
enemy may keep off from me now and for ever. — Amen. In
honour of Jesus Christ, and in honour of His blessed death and
sacred passion, and in honour of His resurrection and Godlike
ascension, to which He like to bring us to the way to heaven.
True as Jesus was born on Christmas Day in the stall. True as
Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. True as the three wise
kings brought their offerings to Jesus on the thirteenth day.
True as He ascended into heaven, so the honour of Jesus will
keep me from my enemies, visible and invisible now and for ever.
Amen. To the Lord Jesus I offer my spirit. Jesus have mercy
on me. Mary and Joseph, pray for me, through Nicodemus and
Joseph, who took our Lord from the cross and buried Him. 0 Lord
Jesus, stay my bitter anguish ! Through the sufferings on the
cross, for truly then your soul was parting from this world, have
mercy on my poor soul when parting from its mortal flesh from
this sinful world. 0 Jesus, give me peace. — END.

Believe this for certain, which is written here, it is as true as
the Holy Evangelists. They who keep it about them shall
not fear lightning or thunder, and they that repeat it every day
shall have three days warning before death.

A PRAYER

The following prayer was found in the grave of our Lord Jesus
Christ, in the year 1003, and was sent from the Pope to the
Emperor Charles, as he was going into battle, for safety. Who-
ever shall repeat it every day, or hear it read, or keep it about them,
shall never die a sudden death, nor be drowned, nor shall fall
into the hands of their enemies in battle — nor shall poison take
effect on them, and it being read to anyone in great pain, shall
get instant relief — and if you see anyone in fits lay this on his or
her right side, and they shall stand up and be blessed, and they
who shall repeat it in any house shall be blessed by the Lord —
and he that will laugh at it will suffer — believe this to be certain
— it is true as the Holy Evangelist has written it. They who
keep it always with them shall not fear thunder nor lightening —
and they who shall repeat it every day shall receive three days
warning before their death.

THE PRAYER

Oh ! adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, dying on the
gallows tree, save me — Oh ! Holy Cross of Christ see me safe
through — Oh ! Holy Cross of Christ, ward off from me all weapons
of danger — Oh ! Holy Cross of Christ, ward off from me all sharp

NOTES AND QUERIES 461

repeating words — Oh ! Holy Cross of Christ, ward off from me
all things that are evil — Oh ! Holy Cross of Christ, protect me
from my' enemies — Oh ! Holy Cross of Christ, guide the right
way to happiness — Oh ! Holy- Cross of Christ, ward off from me
all dangerous deaths, and give me life always — Oh ! Crucified
Jesus of -Nazareth have mercy on me now and for evermore.
Oh ! Blessed Mother of God, intercede for us poor sinners.
Amen.

In honour of oar Lord Jesus Christ, and in honour of His
Sacred Passion, and in honour of His Glorious Eesurrection and
God-like Ascension, to which he wished to bring me the right way
to Heaven — True as Jesus was born on Christmas Day — True as
Jesus died to save sinners — True as the three Wise Kings brought
to Jesus on the 13th day — -True as he ascended into Heaven —
So the honour of Jesus will keep me from my enemies, visible
and invisible, now and for evermore. Amen.

Oh ! Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me — Mary and Joseph
pray for me, through Nicodemus, who took our Lord down from
the Cross. Oh ! Lord Jesus Christ, through Thy sufferings on
the Cross this soul was flitting out of this world, give me grace
that I may carry the Cross and keep from suffering and that
without complaining, and keep me from all dangerous deaths now
and for evermore. Amen.

D. O'LOAN.

[ 462 ]

DOCUMENTS

THE BICENTENARY CELEBRATION AT GYOR

[THE following official account of the bicentenary celebration,
held at Gyor, in Hungary, in commemoration of the bloody
sweat of the miraculous picture of our Lady preserved in the
Cathedral, will, no doubt, be interesting to many readers of the
I. E. KECOED.

ijt JOHN, Bishop of Clonfert.]

REVERENDISSIME AC AMPLISSIME DOMINE EPISCOPE !
FRATER IN CHRISTO COLENDISSIME !

Festivitas, qua bisaecularis memoria prodigiosi sudoris in
imagine B. Mariae Virginis observati apud nos recolebatur,
feliciter terminata est. De hac festivitate jubilari, quo desiderio
Amplitudinis Tuae respondeam promissique mei debitum exsol-
vam, aliqua connotare delectat.

Festivitas a 16a usque 2oam Martii extensa erat.

Die 16a Martii festo initium datum est cum solemnibus
Lytaniis coram gratiosa imagine ; has excepit sacer sermo, habi-
tus ab uno canonicorum ; dein recitatum S. Eosarium. Post
salutationem angelicam vespertinarn, interiecta modica mora,
concentus campanarum totius urbis uno horae quadrante annun-
ciavit fidelibus solemnitates insequentis diei.

Die 17a ipsa nempe die anniversari prodigiosi eventus, festo
S. Patritii, a bora media sexta sacra celebrata sunt ad aram
B. M. Virginis; hora nona festivum sermonem sacrum habuit
Eevssmus. ac Amplissimus Dominus Philippus Heiner, origine
Dioecesis Faurinensis filius, nunc Episcopus Albaregalensis ;
finito sermone ad aram gratiosam Virginis ipse ego Sacrum
Pontificale habui. Post salutationem angjlicam meridianam,
aliqua mora interposita, in turri Eesidentiae Episcopalis resona-
bant sacrae cantilenae de B. M. Virgine, comitantibus cantum
tubis aliisque instrumentis musicis ; a meridie Lytaniae solemnes.
Adfuit autem fidelis populus maximo numero singulis devotionis
partibus.

Sequentibus diebus turn ipsi Faurinenses, turn populus e
circumiacente regione, alii sub vexillis in forma processionis, alii

DOCUMENTS 463

in minores turmas collect! venerunt B. M. Virginem, afflictorum
Consolatricem filial! pietate salutaturi.

Diebus 22a, 23a, et 24a, Martii erat triduum, quotidie cum
Sacro et a meridie cum sacro sermone, quorum duos parochi
urbis, tertium Canonicus Cathedralis Ecclesiae habuit. Argu-
menta sermonum ordine desumpta sunt ex mysteriis SS. Eosarii
gaudiosi, dolorosi et gloriosi.

Denique in Octava, seu 25a Martii ingenti numero advenit
e circumiacentibus regionibus fidelis populus, alii sub vexillis, alii
beneficio viae ferreae in quinque directionibus urbi nostra appro-
pinquantis. Hora nona unus canonicorum habuit sermonem,
Sacrum autem Pontificale ipse ego habui. Post salutationem
angelicam in turri Eesidentiae Episcopalis pari modo, sicut die
17anotatum, s. hymni cum musica reficiebant animos fidelium.
A meridie Lytaniae solemnes, post has Te Deum.

Numerus sacram confessionem peragentium et communi-
cantium in Ecclesia Cathedrali et Conventus Carmelitarum
insimul quinque millia superabat.

Atque haec erat series festivitatum causa nostrae laetitiae.
Utinam Jesus Christus hanc nostrae filialis in Matrem Suam
pietatis manifestationem sereno vultu accipere Consolatrix autem
Afflictorum turn nobis, turn vobis afflictis, saepe et tribulatis
benigna et praepotenti intercessione adesse dignetur !

Te, mei memorem, Deus tueatur omnipotens ! Jaurini in
Hungaria, die 29* Martii, 1897.

Amplitudinis Vestrae Eeverendissimae,
Frater in Christo,

<%> JOANNES ZALKA,

Episcopus Janrinensis.

DECREE REGARDING THE CANONIZATION OF THE
VENERABLE JOHN NEPOMUCENE NEUMANN, C.SS.R.,
BISHOP OF PHILADELPHIA

[THE introduction of the cause of any servant of God
is of much interest to us. We may go the length of saying
that the introduction of the cause of Venerable John Nep.
Neumann has a most special claim on our interest. As he
died only in 1860, and at the comparatively early age of
forty-nine, we can say that he has been an ecclesiastical student,
a secular priest, a missionary and a bishop in our own days.
His whole life as a minister of Christ was spent in the United

464 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

States, a country typically modern. Within the bosom of the
Church, and among non-Catholics, he laboured for men of every
tongue. He had in his zeal for souls acquired a perfect know-
ledge not only of his maternal tongue, German, and the languages
of the learned, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, but also of English,
French, Italian, Spanish, and Bohemian. That which is yet
more astonishing, and which may make the blush of shame to
rise on some of our cheeks, is that he had acquired a sufficient
knowledge of Irish to enable him to hear confessions in this
language. We have then in this venerable servant of God a
working ecclesiastic of our own times, the greater part of whose
life was spent in circumstances far more difficult than those in
which we find ourselves. Cooperating from his childhood with
divine grace God has formed in him a perfect model for students
and for priests. With age he grew in the perfection proper to
his state and in zeal for the salvation of souls, until those with
whom he lived and for whom he worked saw in him a living
saint. But there is one phase in his life especially worthy of
note, and that is his unceasing labours to put truly Catholic
schools within the reach of every Catholic child. The picture
painted on this occasion of the introduction of his cause points
to him as the Patron of Schools. He is represented in a school
distributing prizes to the children. His first work in America
was the instruction of children. When received as bishop in
Philadelphia, he begged the people who wished to make him a
presentation to do that which would give him most pleasure,
namely, to build a Catholic school. His first favour granted
after his death was to a teaching nun. She had become quite
deaf, and, she felt the privation because she could no longer
teach. She addressed herself to her venerable bishop and begged
him to obtain her the favour to be able to hear during class
hours in school. Her prayer was heard, and as long as she
was able to go to the school she heard during class hours :
she was quite deaf during the rest of the day. The Bishop
of Cleveland, who knew the servant of God personally, in
his letter to the Holy Father asking for the introduction of the
cause, writes : ' Zelus ejus erga pueros christiane educandos et
instituendos, sollicitudoque de condandis scholis parochialibus
tanta fuerunt, ut jure meritoque appelletur Fundator ejus generis
Scholarum in civitate Philadelphiensi ' (Processus Num. xvii.)-
In a like letter, the Bishop of Green Bay does not hesitate to

DOCUMENTS 465

assert : ' Fuit inter antistites Novi Orbi primus et accerrimus
propugnator scholae parochialis et illius catholicae educationis
. . . Inter media quibus plebem suam prudentissimus ille Praesul
santificavit, maximum censuit esse erectionem scholarum paro-
chialium . . . et aperte decebat, non aliter juventutem catholicam
in fide firmari et servari posse quam catholica educatione in
scholis omnino catholicis et religiosis.' (Processus Num. xviii.).
In effect, as we learn from the same witness : ' In fine vitae
[venerabilis episcopus] dicere posset vix esse in sua diocese
paroeciam cui schola non esset annexa. Millia puerrorum ejus
hortatu publicas scholas derelinquerunt ita ut toti urbi res
innotesceret ' (ib.). It is then no wonder that the bishops of
the United States should have sent to the Holy See letters such
as we read in the Process from the pen of the Card. Archbishop
of Baltimore, the Archbishop of New York, and the Archbishop
of Philadelphia, in whose dioceses he worked. Neither should
we wonder that from Austria petitions for the introduction of
the cause came not only from the bishops in whose dioceses the
venerable servant of God was born and studied, but also from
other bishops, and from the Emperor of Austria himself. Thus
does God honour one who had the most lowly opinion of himself,
and who was familiarly known as the ' Little Priest.'

We have the answer to all these petitions in the decree. It
only remains that we pray God to put His own divine seal
on the sanctity of His servant by working miracles through his
intercession.]

DECEETUM PHILADELPHIEN. SEU BUDVICEN. BEATIFICATIONIS ET
CANONIZATIONIS VEN. SEKVI DEI IOANNIS NEPOMUCENI NEUMANN
E CONGREGATIONS SANCTISSIMI REDEMPTOEIS EPISCOPI PHILA-
DELPHIENSIS

SUPER DUBIO

An sit signanda Commissio Introductionis Causac, in caau et ad
effectum de quo agitur ?

Angelici spiritus Dei ministri atque hominum cuslodea
peculiari quadam protectione sustinent Ecclesiarum Angelos
Episcopos, qui cum ipsis et muneris dignitate et gratiae auxilio
consociantur. Inter hos recensendus est Servus Dei loannes
Nepomucenus Neumann, Episcopus Philadelphiensis, e Congre-
gatione SSmi Redemptoris, Sancti Patris Fundatoris M. de Ligorio
verus discipulus ac spiritualis filius. Prachaticii in Bohemia

VOL. i. 2 G

466 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

eadem die 28 rnartii anno 1811 natus et baptizatus est, eique a
piis probisque parentibus Philippe et Agnete Lebisch nomen
impositum loannes Nepomucenus. Puer, diligens, modestus ac
devotus scholas primarias in patria frequentabat, et sacro chris-
mate linitus ecclesiasticis functionibus libentissime inserviebat.
Annum agens duodecimum Budovisiam missus, prius humaniori-
bus literis, dein turn in Seminario dioecesano in Universitate
Pragensi theologicis, disciplinis sedulo incubuit. A suo Episcopo,
die 21 iulii 1832, clericalem tonsuram minoresque ordines recepit,
ac plura Sanctuaria, more peregrini poenitentis, invisens et Sane
turn Franciscum Xaverium suum patronum imitari cupiens, se
ad exteras missiones vocatum ostendit. Studiorum curriculo
summa cum laude expleto, atque in domum parentum reversus,
quum magis in dies desiderio missionum incensus esset, a pro-
prio Espiscopo Budvicensi rite dimissus, die 20 aprilis 1836 in
Americam Septentrionalem profectus est ; eumque Episcopus
Neo-Eboracencis humanissime recepit, probavit et ad sacros
ordines promovit. Novus in vinea Dei operarius ac sacris
expeditionibus addictus Servus Dei cum zelo et patientia populos
evangelizavit regionis prope Niagaram, quae tune ad dioecesim
Neo-Eboracensem pertinebat. Verum perfections vita capes-
sendae consilium, quod Iloffae cum Patribus Alphonsianis sancte
conversando conceperat atque alibi foverat, ad rem, Deo adiuvante,
perduxit. Namque die 30 novembris anno 1840 Congregationis
SSini Eedemptoris habitura induit atque, tyrocinio per biennium
peracto, die 16 ianuarii 1842, in Ecclesia S. Alphonsi Collegio
Baltimorensi adnexa,religiosa vota emisit. Sororibus, Carmelitanis,
atque a nostra Domina nuncupatis, necnon Hospitio Kttisburgensi
S. Philumenae operam valde utilem praebuit. Eeh'giosus obser-
vantissimus, missionarius fervidus, Superiori Provinciali adiutor,
etiam praefato Collegio Baltimorensi praepositus fuit usque ad
annum 1852, quo Episcopus Philadelphiensis, praeter suam
expectationem, ab Apostolica Sede electus et die 28 martii in
memorata Ecclesia S. Alphonsi consecratus, ad suam dioecesim
illico se contulit. Pastorali officio pro Christo fungens, quolibet
biennio integram dioecesim perlustrabat, et verbi Dei praedica-
tione, sacramentorum administratione atque sacroruni rituum
observantia sacerdotibus suis praelucebat. Cathedralem Eccle-
siam, Seminarium clericorum, Asylum infantium erexit aut
perfecit ; atqua insimul scholas parochiales piasque sodalitates
instituit, accitis quoque in dioecesim Fratribus et Sororibus

DOCUMENTS 467

Eeligiosarum Congregationum. Anno 1854 a Pio Papa IX fel.
rec. vocatus Eomam venit, definition! dogmaticae de Immaculata
B. M. V. Conceptione interfuit, septem Basilicas Urbis pedester
et ieiunus quinquies visitavit, et, patria ac genitore revisis,
Philadelphiam rediens, non modo triduana solemnia in honorem
Iramaculatae Conceptionis celebrari iussit, sed etiam publicam
Augustissimi Sacamenti expositionem in forma XL Horarurn,
prout earn Komae peragi viderat, in suam dioecesim introduxit.
Quasi angelus in terram missus, improvise, dum per viam
deambularet, a Deo revocatus in caelestem patriam evolavit die
5 ianuarii anno 1860, clero et populo ad eius funus et sepulcrum
penes Ecclesiam Eedemptoristarum ad S. Petrum confmente.
Sanctimoniae fama quam loannes Nepomucenus, dum vitam
ageret, sibi comparaverat, post obitum in dies clarior ac diffusior
praesertim in Statibus Foederatis Americae Septentrionalis ac in
dioecesi Budovicensi, Inquisition! Ordinariae instituendae causa
fuit. Itaque Ordinariis Processibus, qui supra recensita testantur,
rite peractis et ad S. Kituum Congregationem delatis una cum
scriptis Servi Dei, Sanctissimus Dominus Noster Leo Papa XIII
per Decretum Sacrae ipsius Congregationis datum die 10 iunii
1895, haec scripta probavit. Quu-m vero per alia anteriora Decreta
edita diebus 14 et 19 decembris 1892 idem Sanctissimus Dominus
Noster facultatem tribuisset, ut Dubium de signanda Commissione
Introductionis Causae ipsius Servi Dei agi posset ante lapsum
decennii in Ordinariis praedictae Sacrae Congregationis Comitiis
absque interventu et voto Consultorum, ideo instante Emo
P. Claudio Benedetti, sacerdote professo et postulatore generali
Congregationis SSriii Kedemptoris, attentisque Postulatoriis
Litteris nonnullorum Eniorum ac Rmorum S. E. E. Cardinalium,
plurium Sacrorum Antistitum aliorumque virorum ecclesiasticae
aut civili dignitate illustrium, inter quas mentione dignae sunt
Litterae Serenissimi Imperatoris Austriae Francisci losephi I
aliorumque ex eadem Imperiali Familia, infrascriptus Cardinalis
S. Eituum Congregationis Praefectus, huiusce Causae Ponens ac
Eelator, in Ordinario Sacrae ipsius Congregationis Coetu sub-
signata die, ad Vaticanum habito, sequens Dubium discutiendum
proposuit, nimirum : An sit signanda Commissio Introductionis
Causae, in casii et ad effectum de quo agitur ? Et Sacra eadem
Congregatio, post relationem ipsius infrascripti Cardinalis
Ponentis, omnibus mature perpensis et audito E. P. D. Gustavo
Persian! S. Eomanae Eotae Auditore et Sanctae Fide! Promotoris

468 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

munus gerente, rescribendum censuit : Affirmative, seu signandam
esse Commissionem, si Sanctissimo placuerit. Die 15 decembris
1896.

Quibus omnibus Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Leoni PapaeXlII
per meipsum infrascriptum Cardinalem relatis, Sanctitas Sua
Eescriptum Sacrae Eituum Congregationis ratum habens, propria
manu signare dignata est Commissionem Introductionis Causae
Venerabilis Servi Dei loannis Nepomuceni Neumann, Episcopi
Philadelphiensis, iisdem die, mense et anno.

CAIETANUS Card. ALOISI-MASELLA, S. E. C. Praefectus.
DIOMEDES PANICI, S. E. C. Secretarius.
L. gi S.

I 469 ]

NOTICES OF BOOKS

CAEMINA SACRA S. ALPHONSI MAEIAE DE LIGUORIO.
Latini versa a P. Francisco Xaverio Reuss, C.SS.R.
Romae, Ex Typographia a pace. Philippi Cuggiani.

THIS work gives us all the Sacred Poetry of the Holy doctor,
including what was written in the Neapolitan dialect. Some
pieces are now published for the first time. On one page Father
Eeuss gives the original Italian text ; on the opposite, his own
Latin translation. In Italy his rendering of the poetry of his
father, St. Alphonsus, is highly praised ; but high above these
praises stands the Brief which his Holiness Leo XIII. has been
pleased to send to the translator : —

DILECTO FILIO FBANCISCO XAVEEIO BEUSS SAC.

E CONGEEGATIONE SS. EEDEMPTOBIS

LEO PP. XIII.

Dilecte Fili, salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem. Bern tu
exegisti sane dignam alumno Alfonsi Patris, edito nuper volumine
quod humaniter a te oblatum accepimus. In eo libentes vidimus
quam felici industria latine reddideris carmina, quae pleno Ille
sacri aestus pectore multa et suavia fudit, pietatis sanctae optima
alimenta. De confecto labore crede quidem fore non paucos qui
gratiam habeant tibi : sic enim conversis carminibus non
minus iucunde pieque afficientur animi quam nativis. Certe
autem beatus idem Pater, hoc per te decore auctus, benigniore te
vultu respiciet, atque ea potiora munera quae tibi ipse tamquam
operae tuae praemium exoptas, abunde impetrabit. Quorum
munerum auspex accedat Apostolica benedictio, quam tibi
paterno animo impertimus.

Datum Eomae apud S. Petrum die vm decembris an
MDCCCXCVI, Pontificatus Nostri decimo nono.

LEO PP. XIII.

In his Introduction, the translator reminds us of the marvel-
lous gifts which St. Alphonsus possessed and which fitted him
for a first place amongst poets : ' Nee dubitandum,' he writes,
' quin S. Doctor, si totum se ad colendam musam voluisset
convertere, evasurus fuisset insignis poeta, celebrioribus accen-
sendus, qui ejus aetate floruerunt.' He points out to us certain
Carmina of great beauty, and gives us the appreciation of the

470 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

learned who have written on the poetry of St. Alphonsus. In
number XVIII. we have the marvellously beautiful dialogue
between the Soul and Christ, for which the holy Doctor com-
posed music which is considered of the first order.

Besides the Introduction, the translator gives us twelve pages
of Annotationes , which show how carefully he studied these
writings of the saint, and how deeply he imbibed his spirit. It
is no matter of wonder that the Holy Father has written : ' Sic
enirn conversis carminibus non minus jucunde pieque afficientur
animi quam nativis.' His Holiness, we have heard, has further
signified his appreciation by sending a copy to every seminary
in Italy.

TRACTATUS DE VIRTUTIBUS IN GENERE, DB VIRTUTIBUS
THEOLOGICIS, ET DE VIRTUTIBUS CARDINALIBUS. Ad
usum Alumnorum Seminarii Archiepiscopalis Mechli-
niensis. Mechliniae : H. Dessain.

TRACTATUS DE JURE UT JUSTITIA ET DE CONTRACTIBUS.

Ad usum, etc. Mechliniae : H. Dessain. 1896.

THESE are two of the latest volumes of the already extensive
Mechlin cursus. Some of the preceding volumes have been
before the public for a number of years, and the fact that they
have gone through several editions is a proof of their popularity.
The Tracts under notice preserve the method, style, and general
characteristics of their series. The catechetical method is
followed without deviation, and so its defects as well as its
advantages, come out in distinct relief. The style is eminently
simple and clear, and sufficiently concise. With regard to matter
and treatment, it is worthy of note in the treatise De Virtutlbus
Theologicis that, contrary to the general practice of modern
theologians, no distinction is observed between the provinces of
Dogma and Moral. Whatever may be thought of this mixing as
a system, it looks very well in the present instance ; and it would
be difficult, for example, to point to a more useful elementary
collection of the whole theology regarding the virtue of Faith
than is to be found here in the brief compass of less than a
hundred pages. In treating of the Moral Virtues— as elsewhere
also wherever his authority is available — St. Thomas is followed

1 For the convenience of persons living in England or Ireland, orders can
be sent to Messrs. Browne and Nolan, Ltd., Dublin. Price, 3*.; postage extra

NOTICES OF BOOKS 471

with fidelity. The mention of this fact is enough to give a high
character to this treatise.

The Tract De Jure, &c., is largely taken up, as we should
expect, with Belgian municipal law. In the purely theological
portions we notice nothing worth referring to, except that in some
sections the treatment is rather scanty and wanting somewhat
in definiteness. It would be interesting to compare the author's
teaching about the effect on conscience of certain provisions of
the municipal law with Crolly's teaching on corresponding points
in connection with our law. Just to give an instance, the complete
liberation of conscience which Crolly holds to be effected, under
certain conditions, by a certificate of discharge in cases of bank-
ruptcy in our law, is distinctly denied by the author of this
Tract to have any place in Belgian law. The difference, however,
appears to be all in the law, not in the theology of the question,
since, in the present form of the Belgian law, there seems to be
no extinction for the bankrupt even of legal liability against the
event of a return to better fortune (N. 38, Q. 6).

Both of these volumes, but especially that De Virtutibus, will
be found useful by any student or priest who cares to study
them. They have the approbation of Cardinal Goossens,
Archbishop of Mechlin.

P. J. T.

FEOM HELL TO HEAVEN. By the Eev. J. A. Dewe.
London : D. Lane, 310, Strand.

THIS is a strange book, with a strange title. It is a collection
of sermons on moral and dogmatic subjects, published by a
Catholic priest, and yet it bears no evidence of having been
submitted to a censor, or of having received the requisite approval
from ecclesiastical authority. In a word, it has neither a nihil
obstat nor an imprimatur. The sermons, which are seventeen in
number, are original both in matter and form. There is no text
of Sacred Scripture given at the beginning, and, indeed, the
inspired word is used very sparingly throughout. It w7ould,
perhaps, be better to call the contents of the book ' short essays '
rather than sermons. They are, however, thoughtful and clever,
and possess a freshness which is absent from many sermon books.
As it is not our intention to usurp the functions of the forgotten
censor, we will offer no criticism on the matter of the sermons.

472 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

MISSA ANGELICA IN HONOKEM Ss. ANGELOBUM. Auctore

P. Griesbacher. Op. I7a, for Six Mixed Voices and Organ ;

op. 17b, for Four Equal Voices and Organ. Diisseldorf,

Schwann.

THIS beautiful and effective Mass is very suitable for festive
occasions. It requires a choir fairly familiar with contrapuntal
compositions and a good organist. The edition for four equal
voices is suitable for either male or female choirs. The two lower
parts are printed in the bass clef, which appears to indicate that
the author was thinking primarily of male voices. The organ
accompaniment, too, is conceived under this aspect, for the author
remarks that, in case of a performance with female voices, it
would be better to use the organ accompaniment of the six-part
edition. Still we have some hesitation in recommending the
Mass to male choirs. We fear that the generally low position of
the voices would produce a rather sombre effect. But for well-
trained female choirs a performance of the composition should be
a very worthy and repaying task. H. B.

TEMPEEANCE CATECHISM AND TOTAL ABSTINENCE MANUAL.
By Rev. J. A. Cullen, S.J. Dublin : Messenger Office.

THE NECESSITIES OF THE AGE. A Lecture. By the
Rev. W. J. Mulcahy, P.P., Croagh.

FATHER CULLEN'S Temperance Catechism is so well known
that it is hardly necessary even to announce the issue of a new
edition. The Catechism is intended ' for the use of colleges,
schools, and educational establishments ; ' and if it were really
used in these, and in the homes of our people, it would do more
to save the rising generations from the demon of drunkenness
than all the pledges and total abstinence societies ever invented.

Father Mulcahy's able lecture appeals to the grown up and
the educated on the same subject on which Father Cullen's
Catechism appeals to children and to the less educated of our
countrymen. It is a powerful philippic against alcohol, the
manifold evils of which are exposed in lucid, eloquent, and
sometimes pathetic language. To the aid of his incisive logic
the learned lecturer brings an array of facts and statistics,
collected from sources almost innumerable, so that his lecture,
apart from its literary finish, will form an armoury whence those
who embark in the crusade against the demon alcohol can supply
themselves with suitable weapons.

NOTICES OF BOOKS 473

IMITATION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. After
the model of the Imitation of Christ. From the French.
By Mrs. A. E. Bennett-Gladstone. Benziger Brothers.

EXPLANATION OF THE ' OUR FATHER ' AND THE ' HAIL
MARY.' Adapted from the German. By Eev. Eichard
Brennan, LL.D. Same publishers.

PRAYER. By Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Same publishers.

WE can heartily recommend the Imitation of the Most Blessed
Virgin as a book of solid, practical devotion. The virtues of our
Lady are put before the reader as models, and sensible advice' is
given as to how persons, in the different states and spheres of
life, may copy these models. The book is beautifully turned out
in the shape of a little pocket manual, and contains, in addition
to the four books on the Imitation of the Blessed Virgin, an
excellent method of assisting at Mass, together with Vespers for
Sunday in Latin and English.

Dr. Brennan's Explanation of the Our Father and Hail Mary
should prove extremely useful to priests. The book opens with
a short dissertation on prayer in general, and then the prelude
and the several petitions of the Our Father are taken up sepa-
rately. On each is given a short instruction ; then follow
passages from Sacred Scripture bearing upon or illustrating
the petition ; these passages are followed by similar passages
carefully selected from the fathers of the Church ; and finally
is given a series of interesting anecdotes appropriate to the
petition under discussion. The Hail Mary and the Holy Mary
are explained in the same manner, and as the complement of this
explanation the author gives an interesting and valuable explana-
tion of the Litany of Loreto and of the Rosary of the B.V.
Mary.

St. Alphonsus' treatise on Prayer needs no word of commen-
dation. This is the centenary edition.

IRISH LOCAL LEGENDS. By Lageniensis. Dublin:
James Duffy & Co.

BY the publication of this unpretentious little volume,
' Lageniensis ' has added yet another to the many debts of
gratitude which his countrymen already owed him. True, the
4 Local Legends ' here published nearly all appeared before, but
only in an ephemeral form ; besides, in their collected form, they

474 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

are not merely handy and convenient, but they will reach a much
more enlai'ged circle of readers than they ever did when first
printed. There are in all thirty legends, picked up, as the author
tells us, in various parts of Ireland. And very few places in
Ireland, indeed, would seem to have escaped him ; for he has
legends from Antrim and Cork, from Dublin and Galway, from
Waterford and Donegal. And all the legends are interesting and
' racy of the soil.'

MISSA IN HON. S. KOSAE, ViRG. LiMANAE. For two equal,
or four mixed voices and organ. By H. Tappert. Score
35 cents ; twelve copies, 3 dollars 50 cents. St. Francis,
Wis. : J. Singenberger.

THE Eev. H. Tappert, of Covington, Kent., fully familiar with
the needs and possibilities of country choirs, presents us in this,
his first Mass, with a composition that, besides being very easy,
and still effective, has the advantage of allowing a double way of
performance, namely, either by four mixed voices, or by soprano
and alto only. We should not recommend the work for choirs con-
sisting merely of female voices, because the omission of the male
parts necessitates, now and again, slight breaks in the continuity
of singing — gaps filled up by organ interludes, which, though not
very unpleasant, still cause some slight inconvenience. But for
such choirs of moderate attainments that either regularly or
occasionally include male voices, the Mass will prove very
suitable.

H. B.

ETHELBED PRESTON ; or the Adventures of a Newcomer.
By Francis J. Finn, S.J. Dublin : M. H. Gill & Son.
1897.

MOSTLY BOYS. Short Stories. By the same Author. New
York, Cincinnati, Chicago : Benziger Brothers. 1897.

FATHER FINN'S stories of schoolboy life are already so well
known and appreciated, at least in America, that they hardly
need our commendation. We consider them equal to anything
in their line we have ever read, and they possess a value
altogether their own in being the first notably successful pictures
that have appeared in English of Catholic school-life as it is.
Racy in style, rich in incident, teeming with merry schoolboy

NOTICES OF BOOKS 475

fun, they cannot fail to captivate the youthful readers for whom
they are written, while the ideals of honour, truthfulness,
industry and piety which they hold up for admiration and
imitation must have an influence for good on the conduct and
character of the impressionable small boy. Thoroughly Catholic
in spirit and tone, they display, nevertheless, a liberality and
breadth of interest that ought to recommend them even to non-
Catholic boys. They are, of course, distinctively American in
matters of detail, but this need not militate against their
popularity with us : our boys, we think, will bear with the
account of a base-ball match, which they do not understand, for
the sake of more salient points of interest common to them and
their young American friends.

Of the two volumes mentioned at the head of this notice we
have nothing special to remark, except that they scarcely show
Father Finn at his best, and we recommend our readers who
wish to give him a trial to consult his other books also, Percy
Wynn, Tom Playfair, Harry Dee, and Claude Lightfoot. They
are published in a uniform series, price 85 cents., or 3s. each, by
Benziger Brothers, and by Messrs. Gill & Son.

A BOUND TABLE OF THE EEPEESENTATIVE AMERICAN
CATHOLIC NOVELISTS. Benziger Brothers. 1897.

PASSING SHADOWS. A Novel. By Anthony Yorke. Same
Publishers. 1897.

THESE are two of the latest issues of the Catholic literature
of fiction, which is growing apace in America, and accomplishing,
doubtless, no inconsiderable good in the interests of religion.

The Round Table furnishes a choice selection of short stories
by the leading Catholic fictionists. The assured eminence of the
contributors led us to expect rare excellence in the contributions,
and we are glad to say that on the whole our expectations have
been fulfilled. We know of no better collection of the same
compass where the reader may turn for an occasional hour's
pleasant and profitable reading. A portrait and a short biogra-
phical sketch of the writer accompany each contribution. The
publishers announce their intention of continuing the series in
case this first venture proves a success. We cannot help wishing
that it may be a success, and shall be glad to welcome further

476 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

volumes that maintain the same high standard. The price is
$1.50.

Passing Shadoivs is a very readable sketch of Catholic life in
New York. There is nothing very striking about it, but it is
precisely its avoidance of the sentimental that gives it the merit
it possesses. The style is brisk and vigorous, and the story runs
along with a smooth and easy progress and exhibits a very
natural blending of genuine piety with mirth, love, and affliction.
We should not be surprised to see the author produce such
works as make men eminent.

THE THANES OF KENT. By C. M. Home. London :
Catholic Truth Society.

THIS story gives an interesting, and, as far as it goes, accurate
picture of the lives led by the Saxon nobles of Kent during the
reign of Ethelbert, and the saintly Bertha, over that kingdom.
The story commences in the interval which elapsed between
the death of Bishop Luidhard, who had accompanied the Lady
Bertha from her Frankish home, as her confessor and chaplain,
and the arrival of St. Augustine and his companions. The
example of the gentle but queenly Bertha, aided by the zeal and
kindness of Bishop Luidhard, had already won over to the true
faith many noble thaues and maidens. Of the former we are
specially introduced to Oswyn and Athelstan ; of the latter, to
Eanswythe and Eadburga, two maidens who abode, as the
custom then was, at the royal court as companions to Queen
Bertha. Seigfrid, brother to Oswyn, but a stubborn, though
noble-minded pagan, is the hero of the story ; Baldred, a chief
among the Druids, the villain; and Eanswythe, the heroine.
Justice has not been done to Baldred. Though comparatively
young, he was recognised as the chief and spokesman of the
Saxon priests ; consequently, he must have been clever. Yet in the
methods which he adopted to thwart and oppose St. Augustine's
work, there is not displayed a single spark of genius. The
author attributes to him only a low cunning and a brutal blood-
thirstiness, which, though becoming in a ' Bill Sykes ' are not
such characteristics as even a Christian artist would give to the
highest and the last of the priests of Woden. Apart from this
blemish, which is merely an artistic one, the story is very
readable.

NOTICES OF BOOKS 477

THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS

CHRIST. With 100 Illustrations. New York, &c.,

Benziger Brothers, 1897.
POPULAR INSTRUCTIONS TO PARENTS ON THE BRINGING

UP OF CHILDREN. By Very Eev. Ferreol Girardey,

C.SS.E. Same Publishers, 1897.
OUR FAVOURITE DEVOTIONS. Compiled from approved

sources by Very Eev. Dean A. A. Lings. Same

Publishers, 1897.
How TO MAKE THE MISSION. By a Dominican Father.

Same Publishers, 1897.

The Neio Testament, just issued by this eminent and enter-
prising Catholic firm is really a work of art. The type though
small, as it must be, in a pocket volume of the New Testament, is
so clear cut, and so evenly spaced, that the very appearance of
the page pleases the eye. The illustrations, one hundred in
number, are all full page, and all copies of famous pictures, some
of which are historical, some allegorical. The American price is
60 c., the English 2s. Qd. The publishers request us to state,
that this edition of the New ' Testament can be procured from
Messrs. Burns and Gates, and E. Washbourne, London ; from
Messrs. M. H. Gill and Son, Dublin, and from all Catholic
Booksellers.

We can recommend the Popular Instructions to Parents,
especially to parents of the under and middle classes, who often
neglect through ignorance, to fulfil some of their most important
obligations towards their children.

Our Favourite Devotions is a compilation of useful and
suggestive prayers in honour of the Sacred Heart, the Holy
Name, the Blessed Virgin under various titles, St. Joseph, and
several other saints, devotion to whom has become popular.

How to Make the Mission, will probably be of some service
to uneducated persons, in enabling them to profit by the instruc-
tions of the mission and to prepare for a good confession.

MISSA IN HONOREM ST. CAECiLiAE. By J. Quadflieg. Op.

8, Score 2 M., parts 0. 35 M. each. Eatisbon: Feuchtinger

& Gleichauf.

THIS Mass has been published in two editions, the one (op. 8 A,
for soprano and alto with organ, the other (op. 8 B) for four

478 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

voices and organ. The soprano and alto parts are exactly the
same in both editions, with the exception of two passages which
in the four-part edition, are assigned to the tenor and bass, and
are to be omitted by the upper parts.

Quadflieg, choirmaster and organist of St. Mary's Church,
Elberfeld, is one of the most promising Church composers of our
days. He has a good invention, great command of counterpart
which makes his part-writing always interesting and flowing, has
a good knowledge of the organ so as to write effectively and in
accordance with the character of the instrument, and knows also
how to write for the vocal parts. From the great composers of
the sixteenth century he has learnt to give independence and
melodic interest to voice parts, and, with few exceptions,
adheres to those rhythmical rules, the observance of which
makes the compositions of the Palestrina style so agreeable to
sing. At the same time his harmonies in the present Mass, at
least, are quite in accordance with modern ideas, and we do
not think that even a musician altogether unacquainted with
Gregorian Chant and Palestrina style, would find in it any com-
bination of harmonies difficult to understand. We can, therefore,
recommend the work unreservedly to all choirs that have passed
the rudimentary stage.

ST. PATRICK : HIS LIFE, HIS HEROIC VIRTUES, HIS
LABOURS AND THE FRUITS OF HIS LABOURS. By
Very Eev. Dean Kinane, P.P., V.G. With a Preface by
His Grace the Most Kev. Dr. Croke. Eighth edition.
B. Washbourne, 18, Paternoster-row, London ; Benziger,
Brothers, New York, &c., 1897.

THE fact that this Life of St. Patrick was written by the
Venerable Dean of Cashel, would alone suffice to render it
acceptable to Irish Catholics ; while the further fact that it ha~
already reached an eighth edition, renders it superfluous if not
impertinent for us to recommend it to the favourable notice of our
readers.

THE IRISH KOSARY. A Monthly Magazine conducted by

the Dominican Fathers. Browne and Nolan, Ltd.

WE bid a hearty welcome to our bright contemporary, which

seems to promise to do for the laity what it has been always our

aim to do for the clergy. The illustrations, which are numerous,

NOTICES OF BOOKS 479

are well up to the standard of those to be found in any of the first
class London monthlies, while the letterpress is varied, instructive,
and elevating. The beautiful poem from the pen of the gifted
S. M. S., appearing in the first number, concludes : —

' May the sons of St. Dominick new multitudes win
From the snares of indifference,, heresy, sin,
And to all Erin's children more fully unfold
Treasures hid in your Eoses, white, crimson, and gold !'

We heartily re-echo this wish, and fully believe that TJie Irish
Rosary will largely assist in realising it.

THE HOLY BIBLE, CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTA-
MENTS. Appointed to be read in churches. Oxford,
Printed at the University Press. London, Henry
Frowde.

THE BOOK OF COMMON PEAYEE. According to the use of
the Church of England. Same Publishers.

THESE are respectively the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Bible,
and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Prayer Book. They display
all that exquisite taste in type arid binding for which the works
issued from the Oxford University Press have long been justly
famous. Each contains a portrait of Her Majesty, taken in 1837,
and another taken in 1897, and all four are different. Besides
these portraits, there are several reproductions of famous religious
paintings in each volume. Of course the Bible is the Authorized
Version, and therefore forbidden to Catholics, as is likewise the
Book of Common Prayer.

THE VALUE OF LIFE. By C. E. Burke. With a Preface
by Aubrey de Vere. Catholic Truth Society.

THIS is emphatically a good book. It awakens noble aspira-
tions, casts a halo round the most humble and most commonplace
duties, and shows how we can make the most of our lives for
God, for mankind, and for ourselves. Yet it is not what is usually
styled a ' religious ' book. The author, like the bee, gathers
honey from every flower, no matter where he finds it growing.
Fichte, and Buskin, and Miss Proctor may be found jostling
St. Luke, St. Paul, Faber, or Newman. But from whatever
source they come, the thoughts are ennobling, the counsels
founded on a deep and true insight into the value of life. ' This

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

is pre-eminently a household book,' writes the venerable author
of the Preface. Its aim is to make home-life sweet, to make it
real ; and recognising the paramount influence of woman in the
home-life, the author devotes a large proportion of his space to
'woman's sphere in life.' We should, indeed, rejoice to see a
copy of this little book in every household. Its price, Is., places
it within the reach of almost every household.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JAMES EARL OF DERWENTWATER
Compiled by Charles H. Bowden, of the Oratory. Catholic
Truth Society.

JAMES EADCLIFFE, Earl of Derwentwater, was bo.vn in 1689,
and was brought up at the court of the exiled James II., where
the youthful heir to the English throne was his companion. He
returned to England in 1710, and two years afterwards married
a lady to whom he was sincerely attached. On the death of
Queen Anne many of the Scottish chieftains refused to accept
the Hanoverian George as their sovereign, and proclaimed
James III. king. Their example was contagious. The Catholic
nobles and gentlemen of the North of England took up arms in
the same cause, and amongst these was the Earl of Derwentwater.
They met the King's forces at Preston, and, though they at first
succeeded in driving them back, they were forced to surrender.
To Derwentwater, in his prison cell and on the scaffold, pardon
was again and again offered, on condition that he would become
a Protestant, and accept the Hanoverian succession. He nobly
refused, and died on the scaffold a martyr for his faith. The
beautiful narrative, of which this is the outline, will be found in
Father Bowden's interesting little work.

We have received the following additional leaflets and
publications from the Catholic Truth Society : —

The Sew Six Articles, An Alternative for the Pan-Anglican Synod, CatJiolic
Progress in England, The Di-unkard, by Archbishop Ullathorne ; The Catholic
Library of Tales, No. 24 ; The Ember Days, by Dom Columba Edmonds, O.S.B. ;
Remember Me, Daily Headings for Lent; Mother Margaret Hallaghan (1803-1868),
by Lady Amabel Kerr ; Shrines of Our Lady, for use Tvith Magic Lantern;
Leo XIII. and the Reunion of Christendom, by Cardinal Vaughan ; A Ditches,*
of York's Reasons for becoming a Catholic; Bnt they Don't, a Letter to Thinking
Protestants.

DANIEL O'CONNELL

RELAND has produced many great and illustrious
men. She has given important contributions
of intellectual and stalwart manhood to the
pulpit, the bar, the senate, and the battlefield.
There is no position of social or public standing which
has not been graced, and even exalted, by her children.
Their influence, achievements, and fame, have not been,
and are not being, confined to the land of their birth.
Their services and renown have extended over oceans
and continents, reflecting honour on the land that bore
them, and scattering countless blessings of civilization and
religion over the vast expanses of the habitable globe.

Numerous and great and famous as are the sons of
Ireland, past and present, at home and abroad, conspicuous
amongst the foremost of them all, on account of his talents,
labours, and achievements, and by reason of his upright and
stainless public career, stands the illustrious personage
known to the speakers of the English language as ' The
Liberator.'

The great Montalembert addressing him a short time
before his (O'Connell's) death, said : —

Thy glory is not only Irish — it is Catholic. Wherever
Catholics begin anew to practise civic virtues, and devote them-
selves to the conquest of civic rights — it is your work. Wherever
religion tends to emancipate itself from the thraldom in which
several generations of sophists and logicians have placed it, to
you, after God, is religion indebted.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.— JCNE, 1897. 2 H

482 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Remarkable tribute this, from one of the greatest thinkers
of the century to a decrepit old man of alien race, and of
waning popularity, and wholly devoted in his life to right
the wrongs of the inhabitants of the small island that claims
him as her own ! Pre-eminently deserved, however, I regard
it as being ; and I rejoice that though fifty years have passed
by since O'Connell went to his reward, his merits are not
forgotten, and that from Rome, Armagh, and elsewhere has
come the news that action is being taken l that the
' Jubilee ' of his death is not to be allowed to pass without
salutary tribute being paid to his memory. For the ' scattered
Gael,' and, above all, for the Irish priests at home and abroad,
his memory is a precious heir-loom ; and with the desire
of paying a small personal tribute to it, and of helping to
perpetuate it as far as my tribute can, I offer to the readers
of the I. E. RECORD my views on his non-professional and
public career.

To appreciate him properly, we must look back to the
state of religion and other things in Ireland and in the British
Empire at the end of the last century, when he entered on
his manhood and commenced his public life.

Ireland had passed through centuries of religious perse-
cutions and confiscations. A temporary cessation in the
enforcement of the penal laws had indeed ensued, but they
were almost all unrepealed. Most injurious disabilities,
excluding from Parliament, from all places of public trust,
and from the learned profession, were in full force. Though
the country was almost all Catholic, and though it had a
parliament of its own, no one professing the ancient faith
could be a member of that parliament. The Catholics were
merely tolerated to worship God according to their conscience:
and, as a down-trodden, persecuted race, only such civil rights
were extended to them as would allow them to reclaim the
bogs, and to so support themselves, as would enable them to
provide arbitrary and exorbitant rents for the dominant class.

From a social and political point of view [writes Dr. Healy2J
it was almost impossible that the state of things could be worse

1 This was written before the memorial celebrations of May 12th.

2 Maijnooth Centenary History, p. 88.

DANIEL O»CONNELL 483

than it was about the year 1790. The nominal independence,
secured in 1782 by Grattan and his patriotic colleagues, raised
ardent hopes of a brighter future which were never destined to be
realized. It is true, indeed, that there was some noteworthy
improvement in commerce, trade, and manufacturing industries —
especially of woollen fabrics — but the general state of the country
remained practically the same.

Froude1 describes Ireland at the same period as follows : —

The executive government was unequal to the elementary
work of maintaining peace and order. The aristocracy and the
legislature were corrupt beyond the reach of shame. The
gentry had neglected their duties until they had forgotten that
they had any duties to perform. The peasantry were hopelessly
miserable ; and, finding in the law, not a protector and a friend,
but a sword in the hands of their oppressors, they had been
taught to look to crime and rebellion as their only means of self-
defence.

The cruelties inflicted on the Irish people by reason of
the rebellion of 1798, to which they had been driven, and into
which they had been actually incited by the Government,
the unchecked lawlessness- of the Orange Society, and the
enforcement of martial law under which Ireland groaned,
produced almost universal hopelessness amongst Irish
patriots. As long, however, as the Irish Parliament re-
mained, Anti-Catholic and bigotted though it was, there
were certain hopes of its having to allow liberty of con-
science to the vast majority of the people it legislated for,
and otherwise to promote their happiness and prosperity.
Until the 'Union'—

Manebant etiam tune vestigia morientis libertatis.

But the Irish Parliament being swept away by the most
glaring acts of personal and political perfidy recorded even
in Irish history, the flickering flames of liberty went com-
pletely out. The promises of Catholic Emancipation, under
which, I regret to say, influential opposition was bought
up, were disregarded. Injustice was knowingly and almost
universally inflicted upon the down-trodden race. Constitu-
tional redress was persistently denied, and the most daring,

1 Vol. iii., p. 5, quoted in Maynooth Centenary History, p. 88.

484 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

imbibing the spirit of desperation, would rush wildly into
secret societies for self-preservation, or as their last and
forlorn hope. Keligious animosities were fostered to divide
and distract the Nation, and even Emancipation ' under
conditions ' was temptingly offered as a bribe to win over
the wealthy and timid to support the ' Union ' that procured
the impoverishment and slavery of the people, and the ' Veto '
that would destroy the independence, and annihilate the
influence of the Catholic Church in the country.

Throughout the rest of the British Empire, matters,
from a Catholic point of view, were, if possible, worse.
The war of American Independence having ended gloriously
for America, there remained to England hardly any colonies,
certainly none worthy of the name they now enjoy. In
England and Scotland the Catholic Church had practically
disappeared ; and the peaceable in every land had imbibed
a dread of the very name of freedom, by reason of the
horrors that those who abused it in France and elsewhere
had brought upon the world. The French Eevolution had
made good men tremble, and made ' liberty ' revolting
because it had become saturated with innocent blood.

Thus it was that, crushed in their various efforts to shake
off their chains, the Catholics of the Empire feared even to
rattle them ; and millions of O'Connell's countrymen had
grown so accustomed to servitude, that they hardly aspired
to be free. Those of them that did had no one to legally
marshal them, and knew no hope save that of secret societies
and rebellion. These invariably produced the informer, and
ended in martial law, the gallows, and the triangle. The then
state of public spirit is pathetically described by Moore
where he sings : —

Thus, Freedom, now so seldom wakes,

The only throb she gives
Is when some heart indignant breaks,

To show that still she lives.

The heart of the country, however, beat fast for ' happy
homes and altars free ;' and in this it harmonized with
O'Connell's. The Irish are a liberty-loving people ; and the
fire of his eloquence in course of time enkindled into a flame
their patriotic love of freedom.

DANIEL CXCONNELL 485

Freedom for his fellow-Catholics to practise their religion,
eligibility to every position and office in the State, and similar
freedom for every man to follow his own convictions, were the
cardinal points in his demands for 'Emancipation;' and
the power for his fellow-countrymen to legislate under the
Crown, through a House of Lords and a House of Commons
thoroughly representative of the people of Ireland, was what
he claimed as ' Eepeal.'

Before involving himself in a great struggle for the
emancipation of his countrymen, he took care to set forth
as his programme ends unquestionably lawful, and the
attainment of them by means equally unobjectionable. To
compress the patriotic feeling of his countrymen into such
a programme was no easy matter ; and to inspire those
sharing in it with the courage and confidence necessary for
their taking an active part in it, was even more difficult still.
An ardent longing for emancipation, a heartfelt desire for the.
happiness, prosperity, and dignity of the people of Ireland,
and an almost revealed knowledge of the power of consti-
tutional agitation filled his 'buoyant soul with confidence of
ultimate success. Youth, ardour, eloquence, health, and
vigour were his ; and with such qualifications he devoted his
early manhood and his entire subsequent career to the
attainment of ' Catholic Emancipation ' and ' Eepeal of
the Union ' by constitutional means.

I learned [said he] from the example of the United Irishmen
that, in order to succeed for Ireland, it was strictly necessary
to work within the limits of the law and constitution. I saw that
fraternities bonded illegally never could be safe ; that invariably
some person without principle would be sure to gain admission
into such societies, who, either for ordinary bribes, or else in
times of danger, for their preservation, would betray their
associates. Yes ; the United Irishmen taught me that all work
for Ireland must be done openly and above board.

Not merely did he thus form and proclaim his programme,
but, on all suitable occasions, he used his immense authority
and power to enforce it : —

We disclaim [he wrote to the people of Tipperary] the
assistance of the idle, the profligate, the vicious. Religious and

486 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

moral men are those alone who can regenerate Ireland. . . . The
greatest enemy we can have is the man who commits any
crime against his fellowman, or any offence in the sight of his
God. The greatest enemy of the liberty of Ireland is the man
who violates the law in any respect, or breaks the peace, or
commits any outrage whatsoever.

In the spirit thus manifested, O'Connell engaged in the
cause of civil and religious liberty, and became its ardent
advocate. His first public utterances were for the repeal of
the iniquitous Union ; and, though till Emancipation was
won, ' Kepeal ' was in the back-ground, never did it cease to
be the darling ambition of his life. Engaging in this two-fold
cause, he saw, on the one hand, the dangers of the excesses
being perpetrated in the sacred name of ' liberty,' and the
calamitous reprisals that were certain to follow; on the
other, he beheld his country dejected, degraded, down-
trodden in every way; his religion persecuted, prescribed,
and out-lawed. He felt that he was born in servitude, and
living a slave, and his noble spirit determined to be free.

Union amongst his countrymen was necessary for his
success. He made his platform as wide and as unobjection-
able as was consistent with the full realization of his hopes.
He reminded his countrymen and fellow- sufferers of every
nationality of their heaven -given rights, and he convinced
them of their power. He taught them that true liberty
was neither licentiousness and revolution on the one hand,
nor tyranny and despotism on the other. These conflicting
agencies had sunk it in a sea of blood. He dived after it,
and recovering it clothed with gore, and sending forth a
nausea that made it offensive, even to its true friends, he
cleansed it, purified it, and sanctified it by the infusion
of religious principles upon it ; and thus, odoriferous with
justice and sanctity, he presented it to an anxious and
admiring world.

Oh, glory ! oh, triumph of O'Connell ! [cries out Father
Ventura in his famous panegyric, preached in Rome on the
Liberator] for having first reconciled liberty with order, inde-
pendence with loyalty ; and for having transformed into a
principle of security and happiness what was a principle
destructive of thrones — a principle of desolation fraught with
the slavery of nations.

DANIEL O'CONNELL 437

Such an achievement constitutes a great claim for
honour and renown, and having rescued liberty from
licentiousness and error, having shown it compatible with
loyalty, as he did in his own person, as well as in the persons
of millions of his countrymen ; and having supernaturalized
it by religion, he exhibited it as one of the dearest earthly
gifts of God to man, the safety of governments, and the
basis of human happiness.

But ' liberty ' thus presented could not be at once under-
stood or realized by O'Connell's countrymen, driven by
tyranny and rapacity, as they were, and by so many dis-
appointments, to servile contentment or to the wild policy
of despair. For well-nigh half a century, as Herculean
agitator he toiled, with zeal unequalled and with wisdom
unsurpasse3. A bright and easy career of happiness was
before him in an honourable profession. He renounced it,
and when one would suppose him weary of the political
warfare, he rejected its highest reward. His minutes literally
counted as gold honestly earned as a lawyer in his laborious
profession. Yet, no one devoted more time to his country's
welfare. The whole burden of the Irish cause rested upon
him. He bore it up. General apathy for a long time
pervaded the masses. Suspicion, opposition, calumny, and
contempt were hurled against him. Attacks on himself he
paid back with interest and scorn, and from insult he
defended himself, once sinfully indeed, but according to
the mistaken code of honour that then prevailed, with
the weapons employed in duel encounters. Insults to his
country he drove back with pulverizing blows. Peel and
Disraeli fell beneath them morally as completely as the
unfortunate d'Esterre did physically. Him it was O'Connell's
misfortune, for which he publicly repented, to have fatally
wounded. The ' Orange ' Peel and ' the legitimate descendant
of the impenitent thief,' are epithets of lashing invective that
made the greatest men writhe beneath its inflictions, as
witness their contemplated duels withhim. Disappointments,
baffled hopes, perfidy to pledges, in turn accosted him.
' Put no faith in princes, ' and ' the base, bloody, and brutal
Whigs,' were his rejoinders. He never wavered, never

433 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

desponded, never seemed weary in the glorious struggle.
Love for his country and his religion penetrated his very
being, and the justice of his cause bore him up, till dissension
amongst his own followers produced disruption in the
national ranks, and the dark cloud of famine overspread his
beloved country, showering death all around. An over-
worked brain and a broken heart brought him to a premature
grave, before his work was fully done, but not until much of
his programme had been realized. Eeligious emancipation
for all, liberty of conscience for the Non-conformist and Jew
as well as for the Catholic, freedom to follow one's honest
convictions in all matters of religion, non-interference in
religious matters on the part of the State — in a word,
universal emancipation was his idea of liberty of conscience.
His ' platform ' was so extensive that he was able to
congregate, in course of time, upon it not only his own
co-religionists of every class but very many honest non-
Catholics both in Great Britain and Ireland. The reason-
ableness and the justice of his programme, the irresistible
force of his arguments in its favour, the vivid description of
the tyranny opposed to it and the immense attention paid to
his words all over the liberty-loving world, were such that
England was shamed amongst civilized nations.

It will not surprise anyone that O'Connell encountered
difficulties from various sources in his struggles. It will be
wondered at, however, that many of his difficulties came
from his own co-religionists, and the greatest of them was
supported even in Borne itself.

When English statesmen came to regard Emancipation
as desirable in the interests of the Empire, if not absolutely
necessary for its peace and greatness, they determined before
assenting to it, to make political capital out of the concession.
Hence, ' securities,' ' guarantees,' and such things were to
be ' tacked on ' to the measure of religious freedom Catholics
were to enjoy under the Crown. The wealthy classes,
anxious for religious peace on any terms consistent with
the principles of their faith, the English Catholics, some
Irish bishops, too, despairing of better terms for their people,
would accept such a measure of Emancipation as would give

DANIEL CyCONNELL 489

British statesmen the power of Veto' in the appointment
of Catholic bishops.

Not so,however, would O'Connell, who read Virgil to some
purpose where he wrote :

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.

Against the ' Veto ' he warred with untiring vigilance, and
so successfully did he reason, that he was largely instru-
mental in having passed by the bishops of Ireland a resolution
that baffled British intrigue in Rome, ended, in course of
time, the iniquitous claims of a heretical government to
have a voice in the appointment of bishops of a Church
which it had done its utmost to destroy, and saved the
liberty and influence of that Church itself throughout the
British Empire. In August, 1815, the resolution that may
be said to be the basis of the Magna Charta of Irish Catholic
rights was unanimously passed by the Irish bishops.

It is our decided and conscientious conviction that any
power granted to the Crown of Great Britain, of interfering
directly or indirectly in the appointment of bishops for the Boman
Catholic Church in Ireland, must essentially injure, and may
eventually subvert, the Koman Catholic religion in this country.

Enthusiastic expressions of approval and delight from
the laity welcomed this noble declaration ; and O'Connell, in
alluding to it said : l —

This is a day of gratulation and triumph. The sentiments
of delight which we experience are pure and unmixed. Our great
cause is at length placed on its proper basis. Win or lose, we
are sure our religion cannot suffer. Our question is now stripped
of all the intricacies and details in which it was involved by false
friends and perfidious co-operators. It reduces itself simply to
this — Shall we be emancipated as Catholics, or as Catholics
continue slaves ? Every attempt to barter religion for liberty,
every scheme to traffic upon our faith for civil benefits is
destroyed for ever. ... I do, therefore, deprecate the ' Veto ' as
an Irishman ; as an ardent, enthusiastic lover of liberty, I detest it,
and would oppose it at every peril. In both capacities, as Catholics
and as Irishmen, we will ever resist it, and placing on our banners
' religion ' and ' liberty,' wage an eternal war against the open
enemies and insidious foes of both.

1 Life and Speeches, vol. ii., 207-211.

490 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Resist them he did, and persistently. His example,
arguments and eloquence enkindled like sentiments in his
countrymen. His indomitable perseverance and the legal
stainlessness of his position marshalled his countrymen at
his back. His open and candid and legal mode of warfare
brought him triumphant through many persecutions. His
fame concentrated the eyes of Europe and America upon
him ; and he taught the masses and the nations the power
of a united agitation, and that, by union and determination,
and without war, they can right their wrongs in almost
every clime. Religion became more loved and its virtues more
practised; Ireland more sympathized with and respected ;
rebellion more dreaded ; liberty more loved and prized. He
continued faithful to his country, and his country continued
faithful to him ; and millions enrolled themselves under the
banner of ' Faith and Fatherland ' which he unfurled. In
response to his call, gallant Clare elected him to the
Imperial Parliament in which, as Catholic, he could not sit.
Voices of thunder went forth from the lips and hearts of the
most loyal, most orderly, but most united and determined
people in the universe. They demanded the removal of the
prohibition oath-tests ; of the opposing barriers to the free
exercise of their constitutional rights. Their demand was
echoed by the mountains. It was borne upon the gale. It
was carried across the sea by the great agitator himself.
He carried it into the very Parliament House at Westminster.
He trumpeted it in the British Senate itself. It startled,
terrified, and subdued prime-minister Wellington — the
conqueror of the great Napoleon. It wrung an unwilling
consent from one of the most powerful and obstinate
monarchs in Europe, who had even sworn he would never yield
it, and cried in his defeat. ' Happy homes and altars free '
was the cry that conquered Wellington and George IV.; and
justice and liberty triumphed over power and wrong.

Oh, such a victory, grand, stainless, stupendous ! For a
century and a half Ireland was struggling for it ; Grattan and
Plunkett, Canning and Pitt, had failed in obtaining a moiety
of it. But the genius, the eloquence, and the courage of
O'Connell at last won it; and the shackles of religious

DANIEL G'CONNELL 491

slavery fell from off the limbs of millions of his countrymen.
All the subjects of the British Crown became legally free to
follow the dictates of their conscience and to obey its behests,
and the portals of the Catholic Church were thrown open,
without legal barrier, to hundreds of millions of human
beings. Was it not of this resplendent victory Curran had
a foresight when he exclaimed : —

I speak in the spirit of British law which makes liberty
commensurate with and inseparable from the British soil ; which
proclaims, even to the stranger and sojourner, the moment he
sets his foot on British earth, that the ground on which he travels
is holy and consecrated by the genius of universal Emancipation.
No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced;
no matter what complexion incompatible with freedom an African
or an Indian sun may have burnt upon him ; no matter in what
disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down ; no
matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted on the
altar of slavery — the first moment he touches the sacred soil of
Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust. His
soul walks abroad in its own majesty. His body swells beyond
the measure of his chains that burst from around him ; and he
stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled by the irresistible
genius of universal Emancipation.

It has been frequently said that Emancipation did little
good and much harm to Ireland, owing to the ' wings ' with
which it was accompanied, and to the fact that the wealthier
classes, when emancipated, deserted their poorer brethren in
the pursuit of ' Kepeal ' — the panacea for all Ireland's
grievances.

Undoubtedly, many of the upper classes found themselves
free by it to enjoy temporal rights of which they as human
beings should be possessed, and even to take positions of
honour and emolument in the service of the State both in
England and in Ireland. These are the birth-rights of every
citizen in civilized states, and though it may be impolitic in
peculiar circumstances and for the greater good of the
country at large that some should accept them, there should
be no religious barrier to their attainment of them. Accept
them, however, they did, and contentment ensued in the
cases of such, and their co-operation for the amelioration of
the condition of the poorer classes was withdrawn from the

492 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

political movements of their fellow-Catholics. Evictions,
too, followed wholesale on the disfranchisement of the forty
shilling freeholders — an event that accompanied the Eman-
cipation measure. It is stated, the votes of these members
of the community being taken from them, the landlords no
longer wanted them on the estates for the purposes of their
pocket-seats in Parliament. I fail to see how the landlord
class could count upon the votes of such as these ; and if
they could, they would desire their retention as voters.
Why, then, would the landlords' friend — the English Govern-
ment— insist on disfranchising them ? Would it not be
done with, or without, Emancipation ? Be that as it may,
O'Connell fought against the disfranchisement most deter-
minedly, and undoubtedly would not have accepted Eman-
cipation with the disfranchising clause if he could obtain
it without it. That he never desired a man to be without
a vote because of the fewness of his acres, is manifest
from the fact that, in his political programme every man
was to have a vote — and to give it by ballot — who could
sign the voting paper with his name. That Emancipation
was clogged by disfranchisement is clear, and, as in the case
of most other British measures passed for Ireland by the
Imperial Parliament, that whatever goodness was in it was
vitiated by an intermixture of badness, cannot be denied.

But a glance at the other side of the picture will show
the far-reaching beneficial effects of Emancipation on
Irishmen in general, and on the world at large. Besides
positions connected with the then Established Church that
was supported chiefly by monies wrung from Catholics,
there were upwards of thirty thousand positions in the Stat^,
including all the highest and most lucrative ones, from
which Catholics had been excluded. In addition, there were
innumerable positions from which the Ascendancy party
excluded them, as they do largely still. The Emancipation
Act opened almost all offices and stations to Catholics, and
placed them — constitutionally, at all events — on a political
level with Protestants. It opened both Houses of Parlia-
ment to them. It made them eligible for the Bench,
all offices at the Bar, and all positions in Town Councils and

DANIEL O'CONNELL 493

Corporations. It allows Catholics to advance to any position
in the Army and the Navy, Grand Juries, Diplomatic Body,
and the Civil Service, &c. ; and it removes for ever all legal
power of enforcing the penal laws, which, though partially
inoperative for a time, were suspended over the persons and
properties of all Catholics of the United Kingdom previous
to 1829, and could be as easily put in force against Catholics
as the proclamations ' Christianas ad Leones' of the Pagan
Roman Emperors. To Protestants, too, it was a boon, for
it abolished oaths regarding the tenets of the Catholic
Church that many of them could not conscientiously take ;
and it freed the Non-conformists as well as the Catholics, for
it abolished the Oath of Supremacy, as well as the oaths of
mere doctrinal tests.

Emancipation being carried, O'Connell engaged in a
great struggle for ' Justice to Ireland,' and for ' Eepeal of
the Union.' He soon saw his country bleeding from
iniquitous taxation, and exportations of the natural wealth
of the country by the draining effected by absentee landlords.
He saw the unwillingness of an alien legislature to advance
the material interests of Ireland, and its inability to do so
owing to various causes. He felt his country degraded by
being ruled by foreigners, be they ever so well disposed, and
he longed all through life for her legislative freedom and
native administration. In early prime he took the platform
against the Union, and when some Catholics would, weak-
mindedly, surrender the Parliament of this country to the
English Parliament for religious emancipation, as the learned
Dr. Healy, I regret to say, in his Maynooth Centenary
History 1 applauds them illogically for doing, he, though
then but twenty-five, rallied the great bulk of his country-

1 ' That statesman [Lord Castlereagh] himself admits that if the Catholics
actively opposed him, it would have been impossible for him to carry the Union.
But they did not oppose him, and they ought not oppose him, for opposition
would have meant the active defence of the bigoted and corrupt assembly which,
as a body, persistently refused to admit three-fourths of their fellow-countrymen
to the privileges of citizenship, and ended by selling everything that they could
sell to Lord Castlereagh. Such a wretched clique were unworthy to gorern any
country. And one might say that any Union would be preferable to Union
with them.' (Page 117.)

494 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

men against tham. As spokesman, in Dublin, he de-
clared : —

The Catholics are incapable of selling their country. They
will loudly declare that if their Emancipation were offered for
their consent to the measure [of the Union] — even were
Emancipation after the Union a benefit — they would reject it
with prompt indignation. Let us [said he addressing the
Catholics of Dublin] show to Ireland that we have nothing in
view but her good ; nothing in our hearts but the desire of mutual
forgiveness, mutual toleration, and mutual affection ; in fine, let
every man who feels with me proclaim that if the alternative were
offered him of Union or the re-enactment of the penal code lit
was then becoming relaxed] in all its pristine horrors, that ne
would prefer, without hesitation, the latter as the lesser and more
sufferable evil : that he would rather confide in the justice of his
brethren, the Protestants of Ireland, who have already Hberated
him, than lay his country at the feet of foreigners.

Thus he loved Ireland with the early pulsations of his
heart. He had fought against the iniquitous Union before
it was carried ; he had sighed over Ireland's miseries when
her Parliament was gone. He had wept with Grattan over
the grave of her independence, and he longed for her resur-
rection as a nation. Perhaps it was he who inspired Moore
with his beautiful couplet : —

The heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets,

The same look which she turn'd when he rose.

All the powers of O'Connell's great soul were, after
Emancipation (1829), directed to the temporal emancipation
of his country. His was not a discontented spirit, grumbling
over the Union because it was carried ; but his was a spirit
grieving over the miseries it was quickly producing, and
ardently desiring to cure them. He fought against it, but
unavailingly. When carried, he gave it passively a trial for
the hopes held out by its supporters. After years of
experience, when he found his country bleeding from every
pore, and reduced to the degradation of a mere British
province, he threw his [tremendous powers of voice and pen,
and his gigantic influence with his countrymen, into a
determined and persistent agitation for its repeal.

In the ' thirties ' he devoted his energies to the educa-

DANIEL O'CONNELL 495

tional, poor-law, and tithes questions ; and, placing con-
fidence in Whig promises of ameliorating measures for the
country, he contented himself in calling loudly for 'Justice
to Ireland.' He was led to expect large measures of it, but,
in this he was cruelly deceived ; and early in the 'forties' he
set about enrolling millions of his countrymen under the
banner of Repeal. Unanswerable was the case made,
chiefly by him, for his country. Ireland had been a nation
before England had an alphabet. Now she was a down-
trodden province, dominated over by avaricious and in-
tolerant blood-suckers. The ablest lawyers, including the
Government's own Attorney-General, had declared the
Union binding only until it could be successfully defied.
The Parliament that passed it had no power from God or
man to do so. Votes for it were obtained by open bribery
and fraud, at £8,000 a-piece. Upwards of a million sterling
was expended in the purchase of the votes that carried it.
Peerages, Protestant bishoprics, judgeships, positions in
the army, navy, and Civil Service were bestowed in pay-
ment of votes. Public opinion in Ireland was despised
during the negotiations. Public meetings against it were
dispersed by force. Martial law was in full force, and the
Habeas Corpus Act suspended. Intimidation to an alarming
extent prevailed. Nearly one hundred thousand soldiers,
with all the savagery of '98 attaching to their characters,
occupied the island ; and, notwithstanding, seven hundred
thousand were found to petition against the Bill, while only
three thousand, including officials, could be marshalled to
petition in its favour. Carried by perjury, corruption, and
intimidation the ' Union ' became the law of the land.

The consequences of it were direful from the very start.
Ruined trade, ruined commerce, increased taxation, increased
absenteeism, forced emigration to get rid of the ' surplus '
population, wholesale evictions, murders, prosecutions,
martial law and the scaffold were the resultants. Curran,
speaking in 1812, gives a summary of the effects of the
' Union ' as follows : —

Our debt has accordingly been increased more than tenfold.
The common comforts of life have been vanishing. We are

496 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

sinking into beggary ; our poor people have been worried by cruel
and unprincipled persecutions ; and the instruments of our
government have been almost simplified into the tax-gatherer and
the hangman.

Twenty years more of arbitrary rack-renting, of exorbi-
tant taxation, and of absentee drainage at the rate of
£4,000,000 a year, reduced the people of Ireland to the state
described by M. de Beaumont, who wrote that he had seen
the Indian in his forests and the negro in his chains — ' they
are not the lowest term of human misery. Irish misery
forms a type of itself, of which there exists nowhere else
either model or imitation.'

Well did O'Connell know that the real cure, and by
degrees did he learn that the only cure, for Ireland's grie-
vances was in the restoration of its Parliament. The time
had come, if it had not passed, to strike a great constitu-
tional blow for that object. All British Ministers, and
almost all Great Britain, were solid against his attack. The
' integrity of the Empire ' was at stake, the glory of England
would be departed, the days of its power would be numbered,
declared the Minister, if both sides of the Houses of Parlia-
ment did not unite in resisting Repeal of the Union.

The monster meetings came on. Hundreds of thousands
of human beings, sober, peaceable, and determined, rallied
at the various centres, to O'Connell's call. Voices like
thunder rent the air in response to his demand ; and never
did monarch rule more supremely than did ' the uncrowned
King of Ireland.' The power of authority rests on the
people; and here were the people of a nation almost
unanimously clamouring for their Parliament to rule them.
They did not rebel ; they did not want to overthrow their
ruler ; they only wanted constitutionally what had been
stolen unconstitutionally, though in the garb of the constitu-
tion, from them. A legitimate demand this, and irresistible
if persevered in, by the powers of the constitution !

' But will it be persevered in ? ' argued the opponents of
the measure. ' We will attack the people in the monster
meetings, shoot them down unarmed, and thus rid ourselves
of the question.'

DANIEL O'CONNELL 497

But no. Wily enough, O'Connell baffles them by dk-
banding himself the public meetings, and defies the ministers
to make him break the law. They then prosecute and impriscn
him, and drive the people to fury ; but his control and that
of the bishops and priests restrains them, and again the
ministers are baffled, and O'Connell, "triumphant, is restored
to liberty by the verdict of the ministers' own tribunal ! On
the agitation for repeal proceeds, passive resistance being
opposed to lawlessness on the part of the law guardians :
and, baffled by sundry constitutional stratagems, the tension
becomes so great, the clamour for repeal so loud, so inces-
sant, so powerful, these must inevitably, and soon, give up
the opposition ! But, alas ! causes were at work that
O'Connell could not control, and that, effectively for that
period, baffled and defeated the great struggle of his life.

His policy, however, was practical, unexceptionably
legitimate, and if loyally pursued, as has since been proved,
bound to be successful. The same causes of failure are now
producing like effects ; and owing to them the struggle for
the attainment of the darling ambition of O'CormeH's life is
unduly prolonged.

The already undue length of this paper, and the fear
that politics are forbidden in the pages of the I. E. KECOBD,
forbid me to go more fully into the political aspect of
O'Connell's career. Theoretic debates on ethical questions
and revolutionary talk and tactics introduced dissension
at his meetings. Young, chivalrous spirits, groaning
impatiently at beholding the sufferings of their mother-
country, and eager to right her wrongs, or die in the
attempt, created disruption. Impatience at the restraint
O'Connell put on, and imputations of despotism against him,
fanned the flames of insubordination. Wily intriguers
distorted the truth, circulated calumnies, and destroyed
O'Connell's authority, and, with it, his power; and the
terrible famine, fostered by the English Government that
could and should have averted it, completed his defeat.
Suffering from a disease brought on by mental labour in the
service of his country, he died with a heart broken by
affliction at the sufferings he was unable to relieve. He was
VOL. i. 2 i

498 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

defeated in Parliament on a measure that would have saved
Ireland from the famine without the loss of a penny to
England, and this defeat produced the intensified grief that
accelerated his death.

There is not much need to unfold O'Connell's public
character. He was a man of whom any country might justly
feel proud. A lawyer — he was the most renowned of the Irish
Bar. A statesman — he was the admiration of liberty-loving
people in its true sense in all the surrounding nations. A
champion of civil and religious freedom — by his labours and
victory, all the millions of British subjects are ever since in
possession of that inestimable boon. A constitutional warrior
for the emancipation from thraldom and for the national
liberty of his countrymen, for which he fought in every action
of his life, he stands unique in history in that position which
can best enlist the admiration of humanity, and evoke for
his memory its most grateful veneration. Pope Pius IX.
describes him in words that should be indented in brass on
the tablets of the Irish people as ' the great champion of the
Church, the father of his country, and the glory of the
Christian world.' His life was an eventful one. The battle
he fought was a tremendous one. The victory he obtained
was a glorious one. The cause in which he may be said to
have died was a noble and glorious one, though as yet unwon,
and his memory is a priceless and sacred heir-loom for the
scattered Irish race.

JOHN CURRY, P.P.

[ 499 ]

A MODERN EUCHARISTIC HYMN

is a very beautiful modern hymn expressing the
_ feelings of a soul after Holy Communion, to which,
though I have called it modern, I am unable to assign date
or authorship. It has been sometimes attributed to the
saintly German priest, Prince Alexander Hohenlohe, famous
even in Ireland sixty or seventy years ago ; but no such
claim is put forward in his behalf by his biographers, although
they give copious extracts from the Prince's spiritual
writings. An appeal to the readers of The Tablet news-
paper elicited no information on this point. Perhaps I
shall be more fortunate with the more learned constituency
now addressed.

Many readers of these pages may have used this hymn
for years in their post-communion devotions, but it may
be perfectly novel for others ; and it is useful for our
present purpose to begin by giving the hymn in full in the
original rhyming Latin, and to number the stanzas with
a view to subsequent reference and comparison.

AD quern din suspiravi

Jesum tandem habeo !
Hunc amplector quern optavi,

Quern optavi teneo ;
Omnes meae, exultate,

Facilitates animae,
Exultate, triumphate,

Et ingresso plaudite.

n.

Tristis eram et abjectus

Eram sine gaudio,
Quia aberat dilectus,

Quern prae cunctis diligo ;
Sed ut venit et intravit

Animae tugurium,
0 quam dulce permeavit

Meum cor solatium !

500 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

in.

Non sic terras umbris tectas

Gratus sol illuininat,
Non sic aestibus dejectas

Nimbus herbas recreat,
Sicut animam languentem

Eefocillat Dominus,
Hanc tristantem et torpentem

No vis donat viribus.

IV.

Felix dies, felix bora,

Qua me, Jesu, visitas,
Pulchra nimis et decora

Lux ad me qua properas ;
Qui te tenet babet satis,

Quia qui te possidet,
Uberem felicitatis

Verae fontem obtinet.

v.
Quis non tuam adrniretur

Bonitatem, Domine,
Si quod facis meditetur

Serio examine?
Ad te ruo, ad me ruis,

Et me sinis protinus
Immiscere meos tuis

Amplexus amplexibus.

VI.

Nibil eram, me creasti

Ex obscuro nihilo,
Divinaeque me donas ti

Eationis radio ;
Pro me nasci voluisti

In deserto stabulo,
Et finire morte tristi

Vitam in patibulo.

VII.

Praeter dona quibus ditas

Me diebus singulis,
Dapes hodie mellitas

Datis addis gratiis ;
O voluptas cordis mei,

Jesu dilectissime !
In me regna, Fili Dei,

Eegna, regna, libere.

A MODERN EUCHARISTIC HYMN 501

VIII.

In me proprium amorem
1 Tarn potenter eneces,
Ut te amem et adorem

Solum sicufc dignus es.
In me tolle quod est puris

Grave tuis oculis,
Ut sic arctius Venturis

Tibi jungar saeculis.

IX.

Oriente sole mane,

Occidente vespera,
Bone Jesu, mecum mane,

Mecuni semper habita ;
Nil a te, nee mors, nee vita,

Nil a te me separet ;
Unio sit infinita,

Quam vis nulla terminet.

x.
Canam donee respirabo

Gratiarum cantica,
Millies haec iterabo

In coelesti patria ;
Quando te, remote velo,

Sicut es aspiciam,
Et cum angelis in coelo

In aeternum diligam.

Of these stanzas — which seem to possess a high degree of
literary merit, melodious and poetical, yet expressing their
meaning with great earnestness, directness, and simplicity —
the first version I met with, even before seeing the original,
was in a small paper-covered pamphlet of translated hymns,
published by James Duffy of Dublin, and in reality detached
from The Book of Catholic Prayers, which is known to have
been edited by a pious layman prominent in all Dublin
Catholic affairs in the middle of the nineteenth century,
William Nugent Skelly. His appendix of new translations
was the work of the Eev. Michael Archbold Kavanagh, S.J.
Father Kavanagh was born in Dublin on the llth of October,
1805, entered the Society of Jesus September 19th, 1823,
and died in St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner street, Dublin,

502 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

February 13th, 1863. He was for some years Rector of
Clongowes Wood College. His devotion to St. Joseph was
very great, and one of his ways of showing it was the
publication of The Month of March in Honour of St. Joseph,
which is still in circulation. The following is this holy
man's rendering of the Ad quern diu Suspiravi: —

JESUS, source of every blessing,

Whom I sighed for, I possess.
He is mine ; and Him possessing,

I have found true happiness.
Oh ! my soul, with joy high swelling,

Welcome, welcome the loved Guest,
Who thus deigns to fix His dwelling

In a sinful mortal's breast.

n.
I was sad — in deep dejection —

Nothing could my grief allay ;
For the object of affection

That I most prized was away.
He is come to me, and gladness

Thrills my late afflicted heart :
As He entered, grief and sadness

Were seen instant to depart.

in.
Less the sun at morning glowing,

Dissipates night's lingering gloom ;
Less the breeze, in summer blowing,

Cheers the drooping flowret's bloom,
Than the Lord, at His arrival,

Frees from darkening shades the mind,
And, through grace, a prompt revival

Bids the languid heart to find.

IV.

Happy day, and happy hour,

Jesus, when Thou comest to me !
Oh ! what visit hath a power

To delight, as one from Thee ?
He who has Thee needs no treasure,

Of enough he is possessed —
He hath riches without measure,

He with endless joy is blessed.

A MODERN EUCHARISTIC HYMN 503

v.
Who is he that will not wonder

At Thy goodness, King of kings,
Should he but one moment ponder

On the bliss Thy coming brings ?
Thou, Thine arms outstretched to meet me,

Comest crowned with every grace,
I with panting heart to greet Thee,

Bush into Thy fond embrace.

VI.

I was nothing — Thou hast made me,

Work of Thy own hands divine,
And gave reason's light to aid me,

Lest to err my heart incline.
Born for me in Bethlehem's manger,

Reared in Nazareth's lowly shed,
Thou hast lived on earth a stranger,

And for me on Calvary bled.

VII.

Here, besides the daily favours

Which my soul receives from Thee,
Food is given that -sweetly savours —

Food of immortality.
Oh ! thou source of all my pleasure,

Jesus, dearest to my soul ;
I will love Thee without measure ;

Rule me Thou without control.

VIII.

Let self-love within me perish,

That, from all its shackles free,
I may henceforth seek to cherish

One love only — love for Thee.
Banish from my soul whatever

Might offend Thy blessed sight,
That the future may not sever,

But still more our hearts unite.

IX.

Jesus ! when the sun is rising —

When at eve he sinks to rest —
May he find me fondly prizing

Thy dear presence in my breast.
Let nor life nor death dividing

End our union's blissful state —
Union endlessly abiding,

Which no power may terminate.

50-1 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

x.

I will sing, whilst life is given,

Hymns to Thee in grateful strain :
When through Thy grace placed in heaven,

I will sing these hymns again.
Yes, when to the saints revealing

What Thou so concealest now,
I shall gaze, with rapturous feeling,

On my Lord's unclouded hrow.

Something may here be said about two little words
which occur at the beginning of this very devout canticle —
the only words perhaps that savour of exaggeration and
unreality. They are not represented in Father Kavanagh's
version : —

Ad quern diu suspiravi,
Jesum tandem habeo.

He whom I have sighed for long,
Jesus is my own at last.

That diu and tandem, that long and at last, how can
they be said truthfully by the devout communicant who
approaches the altar rails once at least, every week ? How
can they be repeated with sincerity by the priest, who says
every morning Introibo ad altare Dei ? or by the Christians
who attach a eucharistic meaning to that petition of the
Pater Noster, ' Give us this day our daily bread/ and make
the Blessed Eucharist the daily food of their souls ? No
doubt, this jubilus animae Christianae, this cry of jubilation
at the fulfilment of long-cherished desires, would be more
appropriate on the lips of one who had been absent for a
considerable time from the Holy Table. When a priest has
been prevented by sickness from offering up the Holy
Sacrifice, we know, or we can guess, his joy when at last be
is allowed again to mount the altar. It is something like
the ecstasy of another First Communion. But happier are
they for whom the privilege is not enhanced by its unusual-
ness ; happier are they for whom familiarity produces, not
the ungracious effect that the common saying attributes to
it, but at least a calming of the heart's feelings, a less vivid

A MODERN EUCHARISTIC HYMN 505

sense of the ineffable favour, a greater degree of at-homeness
with the sublime mysteries of the sanctuary.

Yet even for these the diu and tandem of our hymn may
have a tender significance ; even these must try, day by day,
to feel anew that ' longing ' which, in more than one language,
is connected etymologically with the expression that we are
analyzing. II me tarde de vous voir. ' I long to see you.'
And, if our faith and love were what they ought to be, we
too should ' think long ' even the short interval between
communion and communion, and we should ' long ' for the
return of those precious moments of sacramental union in
which we can say : —

Ad quern diu suspiravi,
Jesum tandem habeo,

When, some years later, the original of this hymn had
become familiar to me, I had forgotten Father Kavanagh's
translation, which, at any rate, as we have seen in the first
two lines, had not striven to produce the very words of the
unknown author with scrupulous fidelity. This attempt I
made, with the following result : —

HE whom I have sighed for long,

Jesus is my own at last ;
Whom I've sought with yearning strong,

I embrace, I hold Him fast.
Oh ! my soul, exult, rejoice,

All thy powers in worship bow,
And with glad triumphant voice

Welcome Him who enters now.

ii.

Sad and spiritless I lay,

I had neither joy nor rest,
For the loved One was away

Whom o'er all I love the best.
But since He hath come anew

To my soul's poor hovel here,
Oh ! what solace sweet and true

Doth my inmost being cheer !

506 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

in.
As before the sun's bright glow,

Shadows from the earth retreat ;
As soft rains on flowers bestow

Freshness after withering heat :
So, more softly, Jesus comes

To revive the drooping heart,
And when weary sadness numbs,

Warmth and vigour to impart.

IV.

Happy day and happy hour,

Jesus, when Thou visitest !
Fairest hour of grace and power,

When Thou speedest to my breast.
He who holdeth Thee hath all,

Nor can ask for more than this —
Thee his own, his own to call,

Fullest fount of truest bliss.

v.

Who but marvels, Lord, to tell

Of Thy goodness, passing thought,
When he ponders long and well

On the work Thou here hast wrought.
Thee I rush to, Thou to me

Rushest with a lover's haste —
Sufferest me to cling to Thee,

Each embracing and embraced !

VI.

I was nought : Thy hand divine

Drew me out of nothingness.
Eeason's light, a ray from Thine,

Did my darkling spirit bless.
For my sake Thou wouldst be born

In a stable lone and drear,
And wouldst on the Cross forlorn

Sadly close Thy exile here.

VII.

To the gifts wherewith my days

Are enriched with lavish store,
Thou this morn in wondrous ways

Addest one sweet banquet more.
Oh ! my heart's delight Thou art,

Dearest Jesus, Thou alone!
Son of God, reign in my heart,

Freely reign as on Thy throne.

A MODERN EUCHARISTIC HYMN 507

VIII.

From my bosom more and more

Be all love of self removed,
Till I love Thee and adore

Solely as Thou shouldst be loved.
Take from me within, arou-nd,

All that might Thy eyes offend ;
So shall I be closer bound

To Thy heart when life shall end.

IX.

When the sun ascends each day —

When it sinks, and day is o'er —
Stay with me, good Jesus ! stay,

Dwell with me for evermore.
Nothing, neither death nor life,

Nothing me from Thee must sever —
Union, with all blessings rife,

Which no force can rend for ever.

x.

I will sing, while heart shall beat,

Canticles of grateful love,
And a thousand times repeat

In the heavenly land above ;
When unveiled it shall be given,

As Thou art, Thy face to see,
And, with angels bright in heaven,

I will love eternally.

The odd lines of the foregoing version are content with
what we may call rime suffisante, whereas in the Latin
those lines are rendered more sonorous by what French
prosody would call rime riclie. This dissyllabic rhyming
I purposely neglected, as impossible in a fairly exact
translation, though I now perceive that Father Kavanagh
had accomplished it. Several years afterwards I found that
the feat which I shrank from attempting, that closer con-
formity to the original metre, had already been achieved by
a more skilful translator. The learned Eedemptorist,
Father Bridgett, translated our hymn a few months after
his conversion, which took place a few years after Cardinal
Newman's. His version remained in manuscript some forty

508 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

years till I ventured to put it into print without asking
the writer's leave. But, since then, Father Bridgett has
himself included it in his holy and beautiful Lyra Hieratica,
which I of course follow in a few emendations : —

HIM for whom rny soul has panted,

Jesus, my embraces hold ;
To my earnest longings granted,

Granted to my fervours bold.
Powers by which my soul rejoices,

Shout in one exulting chord !
Shouting loud with jubilant voices,

Greet the entrance of your Lord.

n.

Sad I was, my heart dejected,

Joy nor hope my spirit moved ;
Eeft of Him my soul's elected,

Eeft of Him my best beloved.
When He came and lowly entered

'Neath the threshold of my breast ;
Oh, how sweetly round Him centred

Solaces of heavenly rest !

in.

Not so bright o'er shadowy mountains

Bursts the radiance of the sun ;
Not so sweetly do the fountains

O'er the withered herbage run,
As the lonely soul down-drooping

Kindles at her Lord's embrace,
As, beneath her burdens stooping,

New-born powers the spirit grace.

Blessings teem, the day adorning,

Jesus, when Thou com'st to me ;
Light and beauty deck the morning

Bounteously to welcome Thee.
Every joy Thy presence bringeth,

Every wish the spirit gains ;
For in Thee a fount upspringeth —

Fount which store of bliss contains.

A MODERN EUCHARISTIC HYMN 509

v.
Is there one who would not wonder

At Thy goodness, gracious Lord,
If with serious heart he ponder

On Thy wonder-working word ?
To Thy arms I trembling hasten,

Thou my coming flyest io meet ;
Here Thou deign'st Thy arms to fasten,

Deign'st my love with love to greet.

VI.

I was nothing : in Thy power

Me from nought Thou didst create,
And with reason's princely power

Didst my soul illuminate.
Thou for me an Infant tender

In deserted crib wast born
And for me Thy life didst render

On the hated Cross, forlorn.

VII.

Every day with gifts amazing

Thou all measure dost exceed ;
But to-day, Thyself surpassing,

On Thyself Thou biddest me feed.
Oh, what heart-felt transports win me 1

Jesus, name of mighty love !
Son of God, reign freely in me —

"Reign, oh ! reign my heart above.

VIII.

Grant that I, all creatures spurning,

Pride and self may wholly slay,
Till to Thee my heart returning

Worship due and love shall pay.
Cleanse whate'er my soul defaces

In Thine awful purity ;
So may I in close embraces

Live with Thee eternally.

IX.

When the sun illumes the heaven,

When he sinks into the West,
Dearest Lord, from morn till even

With me ever take Thy rest.
Nought from Thee my soul may sever,

Life nor death may stay our love,
In sweet union living ever —

Union which no power can move.

510 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

x.
While with life my heart is beating,

Ceaseless hymns of praise I'll pour ;
Still I'll sing, in heaven repeating,

Hymns from never-failing store :
When, from sight each veil upraising,

All Thy beauty I shall see,
And, with choirs of angels praising,

Love Thee through eternity.

Many have for years found comfort and devotion in
making Prince Hohenlohe's hymn (if his it be) one of their
habitual prayers after Mass or Holy Communion. Perhaps
some who see it now for the first time, may use it hence-
forth for the same purpose, either in the Latin original, or
in one of our English versions.

MATTHEW RUSSELL.

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS

III.

I PROPOSE now to take my readers a little behind the
scenes, and show them what Anglicanism is in its
dealing with those who are unsettled in regard to the
claims of Rome.

There are amongst the High Anglicans some who never
seem to experience a moment's doubt as to the mission of
the Establishment to provide for the spiritual wants of the
English people. I say the Establishment, for although some
of these are very full of the spiritual independence of the
so-called Church of England, and express themselves as
quite certain that her mission has nothing to do with the
external accidents, as they say, of the Church in this land,
still I am firmly persuaded that were it not for the social
position and temporal advantages which accrue to her
through her connection with the State, their imagination
would lead them to picture to themselves the possibility, to
say no more, of the Church coping with the needs of

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 511

Englishmen more successfully than their own religious
body has done, in regard to those points of doctrine which
they consider to be fundamental.

Now this question of success enters very largely into
the arguments with which the Anglican director plies some
minds when they seem to be drawing towards Rome. ' Look
at the way in which infidelity has increased in countries
where the Church of Rome has had full sway. Can she be
the predestined guide of our souls when she has lost France,
Italy, and Germany?' As it is not my purpose to give
the full answers to the difficulties suggested by Anglican
directors, I will merely indicate the line of argument which
every Catholic instinctively feels to be the true one, and
pass on. In regard to France, Italy, and Germany, no
Anglican takes into account the supernatural atmosphere
which still pervades those countries — of course, Italy and
France especially. They know little or nothing of the
frequent returns to the Sacraments, of the way in which
now and again the poor turn to their mother, the Church,
and of the fact that so soon as a man becomes religious at
all, he instinctively turns to the Sacraments. In the case
of an Englishman, you have to teach him a number of
things which High Anglicans admit to be true and
necessary ; the practical mode of returning to God is under
dispute ; his new-born religious convictions may just as
likely take the form of the Wesleyan cult, or of the Low
Church method of worship. With all that the High Church
have done to familiarize the public with the idea of
confession, the ' converted ' man will not necessarily turn
to that, since he is allowed by the Church of England to go
to Communion without that discipline, and, indeed, if he
goes by the example of the greater number, he will certainly
do without it. This is only one instance of how the
Catholic Church retains her hold over the masses in
countries where she has once been supreme, but where the
political atmosphere has become anti- Catholic. Italy, and
France, and Spain, are happy in, at any rate, not having
had a ' Reformation.' They stand higher in morals, in a
very vital point, than England and Scotland, and they

512 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

have a recuperative power in the matter of religious
discipline, which is a lingering witness to the supernatural
origin of the Catholic system.

A kindred argument is taken from the position which
England has achieved in the world since the so-called
Eeformation. It is the old logical fallacy of post hoc ergo
propter hoc. It also comes badly from the lips of those
who are professing to be the special champions of the
supernatural. For growth in the supernatural has no
promise of a proportionate growth in the natural order.
The latter, therefore, is no infallible token of the former.
" They have their reward " — have it to the full — now and
here — should be remembered. Moreover, we have to
consider whether material prosperity is the handmaid of
happiness, whether if we look at the cost at which
England's prosperity has been gained, the dull, morose,
iron-bound life, which has been the accompaniment of her
material prosperity, is not a fearful comment on that
separation from the rest of Christendom, which has been
her special feature for three hundred years. Take the life
of an under-clerk in an office eighty years ago ; consider
the cheerless, money-grubbing, comfortless career of those
who helped to build up the material prosperity, which is
invoked as the sign of heaven's srnile ; take the life of a
factory girl now ; look at the crushed youth" and forlorn old
age of the multitudes, and then compare this with the
comparatively merry life of a Catholic Irish hut, when the
iniquitous heel of Protestant England was doing its best to
crush out all that belongs to man, as made to the image of
God : compare it with the life of the poor in the Tyrol, or of
the peasant in the Basque Provinces, and our conclusion
must be, that if we argue from the facts in all their
completeness, we shall be driven to the conclusion that
God's earth has known no such blight as that which goes
by the name of the Keformation. If it was the real cause,
though there is no proof of this, of material prosperity, it
quenched the happiness, the buoyancy, the gaiety of
millions.

I have spoken of England's isolation. Here the

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 513

Anglican director has a greater difficulty to face. It is
simply a matter of fact, that no one belonging to the
Greek schism has ever condescended to ' receive ' at the
Anglican ' altar.' Here and there, an Anglican in the
present day has managed to persuade a Greek priest to
give him the Eucharist ; but never vice versa. But this
difficulty is met by saying that 'it will come.' Many
things are in futuro with the Anglican ; many things
which one would have supposed he would count amongst
the present necessities of the Church. Extreme Unction,
or Unction of the sick in any form, is 'to come'; a
bishop who will teach invocation of saints is very much
' to come ; ' agreement as to vital doctrines between the
bishops is 'to come'; discipline as to the Sacraments is 'to
come,' and so also is a bishop on the bench who will teach
the absolute indissolubility of the marriage tie, and an
actual provincial synod of bishops, in place of Lambeth
' Conferences,' or Convocation ; the prohibition of marriage
after ordination, as in (what .an Anglican would call) ' the
rest of the Church ; ' and still more, the prohibition of
second marriages of the clergy; and yet further still, the
prohibition of marriage after episcopal ' consecration,' in
which matter both the archbishops have exercised a
liberty unknown to Christendom in all ages — all these
improvements are at most in futuro. But be patient, says
the Anglican director, and all will come right ; we are on
the mend ; when you compare what we were with what we
are, how can you set limits to what we may yet be ?

And so with this matter of isolation. The Greeks and
the Easterns will recognise us yet, the doubter is told ; and
then we shall have two ' branches ' at one with each other ;
and who knows whether Kome will not fall into line ?
Patience is the great thing.

And it is wonderful what a little will cheer the Anglican
director, and be expected to cheer the Anglican doubter, in
the way of preliminaries. Friendly things said by Eussians
to Anglicans, when England and Russia are not at war, are
quite enough in the way of crumbs. Comfort will be
derived from the visit of a Greek archbishop, even though
VOL. i. 2 K

514 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

he be reprimanded on his return, as was the case with one
who gave his blessing at certain Anglican functions.
Giving a welcome to an Anglican archbishop, who comes in
the name of Her Majesty the Queen, not avowedly indeed,
but in reality in the eyes of Russian dignitaries, such things
are quite enough to fire the imagination of the Anglican ;
the rest will come ; only wait.

Few Anglicans see through the hollowness of any
rapprochement which leaves the Greek bishop free to
anathematize, as he does, anyone who does not believe in
the invocation of saints, and of the Blessed Mother of God,
and at the same time leaves the Anglican Bishop free to
denounce the same belief (as he will at home), as obscuring
the mediation of Christ. Few even see the chasm that
yawns between the two, so long as no Greek bishop would
receive the Blessed Sacrament at the hands of an Anglican,
which never has been, and we may safely say, never will be
done till the day of doom.

Again, the mere existence of the Greek schism is a
potent argument with the Anglican director. His history
does not tell him the plain truth as to the moral degradation
of those that brought it about, and the Erastianism to which
it is due, and of which its continued existence is at once
child and parent. Think, he says, of the millions that differ
from Rome, with their ancient undoubted hierarchy, and
the tenacity with which they adhere to all that is primitive
and orthodox. He says nothing of all that he thought an
argument against Rome ; of the state of the countries where
this imaginary orthodoxy flourishes, or of the morality
produced ; the very name Eastern is redolent of awe, ar.d
a claim to orthodoxy passes for its profession, and the
emphatic witness of its teaching against some of the
fundamental tenets of Anglicanism goes for nothing.

But the Church of England is, beyond all else, the great
witness to the value of history. So at least the Anglican
director persuades the doubter. Rome has flung history to
the winds. She had one great historian, but she cast him
out. True, the only histories he wrote were as subversive of
Anglicanism as anything ever produced by the pen of man ;

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 515

but then he became — well, it is hard to say what he became;
for he respected the excommunication passed on him, and
refrained from saying Mass, thereby cutting up the Anglican
position by the roots ; he coquetted, indeed, with Anglicans,
but he expressed his mistrust of a system which permitted
married bishops, contrary to all history, and altogether
lailed to throw in his lot in a practical way with the Neo-
Protestants, or, as they call themselves, Old Catholics. An
Anglican, if he does set to work at history, is indebted to
Catholics for his materials ; and fragments of history which
would be as child's play to a Catholic professor on the
Continent, are held up as signs of the erudition of the
Church of England. A religious body, or a section of a
religious body, which could receive Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon as
ecclesiastical history proves its own unfamiliarity with the
rudiments of that department of knowledge. And yet
Eome's ignorance is a commonplace argument with our
friends the High Anglicans. It is an extraordinary infatua-
tion ; it may well provoke a. smile of almost incredulity
with some of my readers ; it seems natural to ask, can such
people be in good faith ? But so it is ; there is many a
sincere man who knows no more of history nor of theology
than he would gain from the very slender equipment of an
Anglican theological college, who will demurely and oracu-
larly hold forth on the terrible indifference to history and to
truth evinced by ' Eome; ' and succeed — for that is the strange
part of the matter — in impressing his hearer with a sense of
danger in drawing near to what yet he calls a branch of the
one Church. It is impossible that the recent reply of the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull Apostolicce
Curw should have received the welcome it has in some
quarters, unless theology and history had sunk to a very low
ebb indeed in the Establishment. But this being so, our
Anglican director has an easy task in persuading himself
that he is representing history when he indulges in his
platitudes about Anglicanism and the Primitive Church.

Such are some of the arguments which are pressed on
the High Anglican when he or she begins to doubt the
' catholicity ' of the English Church. But there are two

516 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

on which the eloquence of the Anglican director rises to a
climax. One is the ingratitude of turning one's back upon
the sacraments of the Anglican Church. No one who has
not either lived in the Anglican atmosphere, or become
acquainted, as a Catholic priest, with the epistolary literature
with which the doubter amongst Anglicans is assailed, can
form any idea of the tremendous energy with which this
weapon is used. For myself, I have experienced both. I
have before me a letter, a type of its class, written by one of
the most esteemed leaders of what is called the ' Catholic
movement ' in the Churcn of England. It is addressed to a
lady who found her way into the Church. Her former
director speaks of Koman Catholics as reviling our Lord by
virtue of their opposition to the Church of England. The
denial of Anglican Orders is held to be equivalent to this sin
of reviling our Lord. The appeal in such cases is not to any
intelligent and literary appreciation of the question of those
orders from a theological or historical point of view ; but to
the spiritual experiences of which the doubter has been the
recipient in the use of ordinances which he or she believed
to be true sacraments. You turn your back on the sacra-
ments which have been to you such a blessing. The
argument is one of immense force to the profoundly untheo-
logical mind of the ordinary Anglican. They h ave experienced
spiritual blessings. Catholics will for ever beat the air if
they do not recognise this. To deal with the case as it is,
they must realize the fact that people sometimes go on for
years using all the Catholic devotions which centre round
the altar, and that their spiritual life appears to ebb and
flow in complete correspondence with their disuse or more
careful use of these devotions. Consequently, their sacra-
ments, as they call them, are a reality to them, and the
fear of leaving our Lord in leaving them is no unnatural
feeling.

I need not say, in a Catholic magazine, how delusive
the argument from experience is ; how experiences only
prove their own reality ; but the point is, that there they
are, and the argument drawn from them must be dealt
with tenderly as well as with theological precision. Ridicule

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 517

and contempt is out of the place here ; not, indeed, with the
thing, but with the persons. One point that has to be
pressed is, that all these are but steps to something further.
We need not deny the reality of what such persons adduce,
but the conclusion which they draw. But it will be easily
seen how strong is the appeal to tender consciences, and how
carefully it must be dealt with in endeavouring to counteract
the conclusion. It will also be seen that we need to do a
great deal more than has yet been done by way of bringing
home to the well-disposed amongst them the truths con-
tained in the recent Bull Apostolicce Cures, especially as it
bears on the nature of a sacrament. Protestants are, of
course, not to be confuted by an authority which they do not
recognise ; they must be brought to see the grounds on
which it rests. The Anglican director very often assumes
an air of magnificent authority himself; he professes to
speak in the name of scholarship and history ; it must be
shown (and how easily in this case it can be shown since the
flimsy reply of the two Archbishops !) that they have neither
on their side.

I have kept to the last one argument, far more used than
people not well acquainted with the subject would imagine,
but of which Anglican directors ought to be ashamed. It is
the argument derived from scandals. Two assumptions are
generally made in the use of this argument — first, that the
Anglicans themselves are particularly free from certain
scandals ; and, secondly, that there is no sufficient sanctity
exhibited in what they call the Church of Rome to form a
stronger argument for, than all the scandals (even if substan-
tiated) would be against, her claim to be a supernatural
system.

Both these assumptions are, I believe, due in part to
ignorance. As one who, through accidental circumstances,
had opportunities of knowing the Church of England in her
real working for nearly thirty years to an extent that probably
few have shared, I feel justified in assuming that ignorance
is at the bottom of much which is assumed in this matter
by Anglican directors. When I made my submission, I
received a letter from one, whose name has been very

518 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

prominent of late, entreating me not 'to use my unparalleled
knowledge of things in the Church of England for purposes
of disunion. I have never done so ; I should be ashamed to
have recourse to such mean devices. I do not consider such
arguments valid. I have read St. Augustine's writings
against the Donatists, and anyone who has read these knows
how utterly un-Catholic such an argument is. But no
chivalry seems to prevent Anglican directors from using this
weapon of detraction. Only recently, a very prominent
controversialist set afloat amongst undergraduates at Oxford
an account of his having been solicited at an Italian seaport
by a priest to go to a home of bad fame. Assuming that
this person knew the language well enough to be quite sure
of his account of the matter, we might well ask if the said
priest did take this person (as he assumed) for a fellow-
priest, which is most unlikely ; or, again, whether this was
a priest at all, or someone who had assumed a priest's dress,
as we know happens in those regions ; but even if we make
these assumptions, we may well ask whether it is well, for
purposes of controversy, to descend to this kind of argument,
which would tell fatally against the so-called Reformation,
when morality went to the winds with a vengeance, accord-
ing to the confession of those connected with it. However,
so it is, that the amount of stories, true or false, which do
duty for arguments, not only with the Protestant Alliance,
but with High Church directors, when driven into straits
for argument, is much greater than one would have imagined
considering the pretensions made to Catholic teaching.

On the other hand, whilst the real meaning of the
Church's note of sanctity is thus ignored, by retailing
scandals, as was the custom- of the Donatists, according to
St. Augustine, its true idea is depraved in another way.
Many a doubter can resist all the arguments so far, but finds
himself, or herself, unequal to the plea that such good men
as Dr. Pusey, Mr. Keble, and others, have remained in the
Church of England. "Who am I that I should set myself
above them? What was good enough for them must be
good enough for me. Anglicans do not, as a rule, know that
this is an utterly un-Catholic application of the note of

ANGLICANISM AS IT IS 519

sanctity. If Dr. Pusey and Mr. Keble had worked miracles,
that is to say, if Almighty God had countersigned their
appearance of goodness by this mark of favour, there would
be more to be said for it. Even then it would be a misap-
plied argument ; for the Catholic and Roman Church has
been beforehand in this matter, and her prestige cannot now
be dimmed by an occasional outburst of seeming miracle ;
with her, miracle has been habitual and age-long, and if an
Anglican is going to pin his faith to an individual or two
who, we will suppose, seems to have worked a miracle, he
fails to appreciate the fact that the Roman Catholic Church
is the home of miracle, and ought therefore to be his own
home. Bat the goodness of a few clergymen is an unanswer-
able argument to some minds, whilst the witness of the
saints to the system in which they believed is unequal to
the task of counterbalancing the argument thus derived from
a few sincere believers in Anglicanism.

My object in the foregoing remarks has been to photo-
graph, as well as I could, the situation in which a devout
Anglican finds himself when' the claims of Rome come
before him. If I have in any way succeeded, one thing
would seem to follow — viz., that we have to deal with a
complicated problem, and that our work lies before us.

LUKE RIVINGTON.

[ 520 ]

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE
'IMITATION OF CHRIST'?

VI.

third candidate for the authorship of The Imitation
_J_ of Christ, whose pretensions we must discuss, is John
Gersen, a supposed Benedictine abbot of Vercelli, who is
stated to have lived, and, moreover, to have written the
book, in the first half of the thirteenth century.

Hitherto we have dealt with individuals about whose
existence there can be no doubt. Thomas a Kempis and
John Charlier de Gerson were realities beyond question ;
and whatever may have been their relation to The Imita-
tion, no one can deny that they lived and did great work in
the field of spiritual literature. This much cannot be
averred of John Gersen. He is neither more nor less than
a phantom. His first appearance before the world dates
from the beginning of the seventeenth century (some four
hundred years subsequent to his supposed existence), and
came to pass after this fashion : —

In the year 1604, in a house of the Jesuits at Arena, on
the Lago Maggiore, Father Bernard Eossignoli, S.J., found
an undated manuscript of The Imitation of Christ. This
was the famous Arona Codex. At the end of the fourth
book is written : " Explicet liber quartus et ultimus Abbatis
Johannis Gersen de sacramento altaris.' In other portions
of the manuscript the author is named Gessen or Gesher
once (the name being here very difficult to decipher), and
Gessen thrice. As this house of the Jesuits had formerly
been a monastery of the Benedictines, Father Kossignoli
imagined that the book belonged to their library, and leaped
to the conclusion that it originated with that great Order.
Very precipitately, as subsequent events proved, he put
forward the Codex as such, and thus gave origin to a most
extraordinary fable.

In the year 1617 Father Majoli, another Jesuit who had

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 521

made his noviceship at Arona, hearing the story, came for-
ward, and made a declaration to the effect that it was he who
had brought the Codex to Arona from his paternal home in
Genoa ! Thus Father Kossignoli's idea was proved to be a
mistake. However, Majoli's avowal came too late to prevent
an absurd and vexatious controversy". The manuscript had
fallen into the hands of Constantine Cajetan, an enthu-
siastic.Benedictine, who, in his anxiety to add to the abun-
dant laurels of his Order the paternity of the great treasure,
actually published it in Eome in 1616, asserting that it was
the work of 'the Venerable John Gessen, a Benedictine
Abbot.' In a second edition, brought out in 1618, he
re-baptized the imaginary author as 'John Gersen,' which
appellation has survived to the present day-
It was useless to argue that Gersen was a common mode,
as we have seen, of writing the name of Gerson, the
Parisian Chancellor — that it was quite natural to style him
' abbot,' as be was actually A bbe commendataire of St. Jeau-
en-Greve ; the new interpretation suited the novel craze,
and must be worked out to the bitter end. Without dispa-
raging Cajetan we may truthfully say that he carried his
enthusiasm to folly, as may be seen by the facts related
concerning him by Malou and others. At all events, the
new candidate was launched upon the world, and all the
powers of the great Order of St. Benedict were put forward
in the attempt to substantiate his claim. Immediately on
the appearance of Cajetan's edition of The Imitation,
Heribert Eosweyd, a learned Belgian Jesuit, took up the
challenge, and published his Vindiciae Kempenses, which
remains to this day one of the ablest essays ever written on
the subject, and a model for controversialists. It had no
effect, however, on the enthusiastic sponsor of the imaginary
John Gersen.

As no one had ever heard before of such an individual
as the new candidate, it became necessary to give him a
habitation, a country, a birthplace — aye, and even a portrait.
All this was done by a series of processes indicating more
fertile imagination than historical truth.

A copy of The Imitation, printed in Venice and dated

522 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

1501, gave the needful clue. Upon this volume some
unknown writer had traced the following note : — ' Hunc
librum non compilavit Johannes Gerson, sed D.Johannes . . .
Abbas Vercellensis . . . ut habetur usque hodie propria
manu scriptus in eadem abbatia.' This was enough for
Cajetan. John Gersen, as a matter of course, was Abbot of
Vercelli, and an Italian ! It mattered nothing that the
name of the asserted Vercellese author was not given ;
moreover, the fact was overlooked that this written note is
undoubted!}' falsified, as Delfau and Naude declare. The
idea fitted Cajetan's wishes, and therefore must be true.

By-and-by it became necessary to find a birthplace for
Gersen. That was promptly done. A manuscript of
The Imitation (the Allacianus), which attributes the book
to John Tambaco, a learned Dominican of the fourteenth
century, answered this" want perfectly. Tambaco, misread
by confusion between the letters T and C, gave the author as
John Cambaco, or Canabaco, and this word, by a process
wholly unknown to philology, was metamorphosed into
Cavaglia, a village near Vercelli, in which Gersen was
stated to have been born !

The next necessity was to provide a portrait of the
newly-discovered hero. This likewise was accomplished
without delay. The so-called Codex Cavensis has a
picture of a monk painted within the letter Q at the com-
mencement of the first sentence, Qui Sequitur me. This
picture is stated by the Gersenists to represent a Benedictine
monk — no other than John Gersen ! They ignored the cir-
cumstance that this manuscript bears neither name nor date,
and that there is strong evidence that it never belonged to*
the Benedictine Monastery of La Cava, in the kingdom of
Naples. In 1833 an enthusiastic Gersenist, the Chevalier
de Gregory, enlarged the picture and placed it as a frontis-
piece to his work.

Let us here recapitulate. By Father Eossignoli's proven
error in supposing that the Arona Codex ever belonged to the
Benedictine library at Aroua ; by the blunder of a copyist
so ill informed that he spells the supposed author's name in
three different ways, and called him Abbot ; and by the

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST'

vivid imagination of Dom Cajetan ; — we have the new can-
didate put forward as the Venerable John Gersen, Abbot of
the Benedictine Order. By a falsified and utterly worthless
note in the Venice edition we find him represented as an
Abbot of Vercelli, and therefore an Italian ; by a misreading
of the name of John Tambaco we find him born at Cavaglia ;
and, finally, by a coup de main of extravagant fancy, we have
his portrait manufactured out of the illuminated Q in the
so-called Codex Cavensis !

Verily, what more could be needed to prove Gersen's
existence, and claim to the authorship of The Imitation of
Christ !

Still, we must follow Cajetan's eccentricities a little
further. The question will be asked, When did Gersen
flourish as Abbot of Vercelli ? Probably with the idea
of ante-dating The Imitation of Christ, so as to put
Thomas a Kempis and John Charlier de Gerson out of
the field, the .new candidate was asserted to belong to
the thirteenth century. Most certainly the Arona manu-
script (which I have myself carefully examined) never justi-
fied such an assumption, all competent authorities referring
it to the fifteenth century. However, careful search was
made, which proved that in neither of the monasteries of
Vercelli — St. Andrew's, belonging to the Canons Eegular,
and St. Stephen's, the Benedictine Convent — was there any
record of an abbot of the name of John Gersen. All this
made no matter, Dom Cajetan and a host of Benedictines
held to the myth — the Augustiniaii Canons Eegular could
not abandon the just and solid claims of Thomas a Kempis.
Accordingly two powerful Orders entered the lists, partisans
joined the fray on both sides, the melee became European,
and thus was inaugurated the most extraordinary contro-
versy known in the history of literature. In process of
time, popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, and laymen, of
various nationalities, were drawn into the battle. Con-
gresses were held, and various decisions arrived at. The
Congregation of the Index, and even the Parliament of Paris
were appealed to, and many bitter personal quarrels arose.
Still, while partisans and theorists lived and died, the truth
gradually rose to the surface.

524 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

It would be an unwarrantable trespass on my reader's
patience to follow all the intricacies of this contest, which
lasted nearly three hundred years, or to analyze what each
combatant asserted or refuted ; and it would be very painful
to rake up all the bitterness and obliquity to which it has
occasionally given rise.

The Kempists, from the days of the witty Amort up to
the present, seem unable to resist the ludicrous view of the
contention. Withal, levity is out of place in the discussion
of an historical problem, although, if ever excusable it
certainly would be so in the present instance.

For my own part, I have only to observe, that, having
made a special study of the question for a good part of my
life, and having conscientiously sought out all the information
procurable, at home and abroad, I have been drawn to the
conclusion that there is not the faintest scintilla of evidence
that such a personage as John Gersen, of Vercelli, ever
existed. In other words, I am perfectly satisfied that he is
neither more nor less than a phantom.

Having discussed, at considerable length, in my essay of
1887, all that Gersen's advocates have advanced in his favour,
I hesitate to do more than allude — very briefly — to the
efforts they make in his favour.

I have already explained how he was invented by Dom
Cajetan, and every step in that truly absurd process.
Amongst the few latter-day partisans of the imaginary John
Gersen, of Vercelli, we find the Chevalier De Gregory, the
Pere Mella, S.J., Dom Wolfsgruber, and Monseigneur
Puyol. I will offer a few observations concerning each of
these writers, and, for the rest, refer all interested in the
subject — and with time at their disposal — to my original
essay.

De Gregory appears, from his works, to have been an
excellent Vercellese gentleman, no doubt imbued with good
motives, filled with extravagant enthusiasm, of transparent
simplicity, totally innocent of logic or historical acumen, and
gifted with a very rare power of confusion.

The earlier part of his life appears to have been devoted
to a search amongst manuscripts of The Imitation for one to

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 525

prove the existence of John Gersen. The result was a
ludicrous failure. He gives a list of authorities in favour of
the existence of his hero. The majority are unknown, and
no reference is given to their works. This is a facile short
cut out of his difficulty. Those he does name are actually
adverse to his argument.

The latter portion of De Gregory's life was devoted to a
different, but equally unsuccessful, mode of supporting the
cause of Gersen. I shall briefly relate it. In the year 1830
he purchased from Techener, a bookseller in Paris, a manu-
script of The Imitation of Christ, which was believed to have
come from Italy. No sooner had he possessed himself of
this treasure, than he examined it closely, and being totally
unskilled in paleography, assigned it to the thirteenth
century .

Inside the volume he discovered the names of its former
owners. Beginning with the date of 1550, was a list of
various members of a family known by the appellation
' Avogadro ; ' in Latin ' De Advocatis.' Now, it so happened
that a noble family of that name still lived at Biella, near
Vercelli. Here was a discovery ; or, at all events, a founda-
tion upon which to build a castle in the air ! De Gregory
lost no time in making known his good fortune, and communi-
cating with the Avogadro family. Shortly afterwards, most
marvellous to relate, a fragment of a diary was exhumed
from amongst the archives of the said family, dated between
1345 and 1349, in which a certain Joseph De Advocatis
makes allusion to a precious codex of The Imitation of Christ,
which he avers was in the possession of his ancestors long
before the time at which he wrote.

Led astray by a mass of fantasies, De Gregory now
formu]ated and published his conclusions —

First. That his manuscript, the Codex De Advocatis,
dated from the thirteenth century ;

Secondly. That the diary, thenceforth known as the
Diarium De Advocatis, referred to that Codex ; and,

Thirdly. That all this (supposed) evidence favoured the
cause of John Gersen.

At first, the real facts being unknown and unsuspected,

526 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

De Gregory succeeded in making several converts to his
views, especially in Italy ; but by-and-by inexorable truth
penetrated the mists of delusion, and the worthy Chevalier's
castle vanished into thin air.

First. Critical examination proved that the newly-
discovered manuscript of The Imitation really belonged to
the fifteenth, and not the thirteenth, century ; and

Secondly. That the Diarium was a clumsy forgery.

Apart from these extraordinary deceptions, to which the
Chevalier undoubtedly fell an innocent victim, it seems
strange that any sane person should have attempted to erect
from such a foundation any support for the pretensions of
John Gersen. The Codex de Advocatis and the Diarium
make no mention whatsoever of Gersen, and De Gregory
ought to have known that there never was a particle
of evidence to connect that mythical personage with
Vercelli.

If, for the sake of argument, we were to concede what
we know to be untrue — namely, that the Codex de Advocatis
dated from the thirteenth century, and that the Diarium
was a genuine document, De Gregory's defence of Gersen
derived from these premisses would resolve itself into the
following argument : —

First. The Codex de Advocatis dates from the thirteenth
century.

Secondly. The Diarium alludes to that particular
Codex.

Thirdly. Therefore John Gersen was the author !

Verily, if this is a specimen of De Gregory's logic, he
was not a close reasoner. When, on the other hand, we
grasp the real facts — namely, that the Codex de Advocatis is
a fifteenth-century document, and the Diarium a forgery,
then indeed we realize how utterly the-Chevalier was himself
deceived, and in turn misled those who accepted his opinions.
So much for De Gregory. No one can read his works with-
out arriving at the conclusion that what he considers facts
are fables, that his conjectures are wild, and his conclusions
untenable.

Mella and Wolfsgruber follow a line so similar — in fact,

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 527

identical — that they differ only in the language in which they
write. What may be affirmed of one applies in the main to
the other. Wolfsgruber's essay can best be described as
a romance, charming reading for anyone totally ignorant
of the subject, but deficient in any solid basis. Like Mella,
he adopts the method of boldly s-tating his case — very
attractively, I admit — and of ignoring or minimizing all that
can be brought against him.

First, he gives an imaginary life of the supposed Abbot,
including his birthplace, details of his early education, his
friendships, and of course his works, including The Imitation
of Christ. For all this there is not one particle of foundation !
Wolfsgruber's story, like many others, is quite credible until
the other side is heard. Then it crumbles to dust — nay,
more — the wonder begins to grow that anyone could write as
he does, unless satisfied that his assertions could be verified.
When the reader ^seeks for proofs he discovers that none
exist.

Apart from the romantic element already alluded to,
Wolfsgruber's work, like Mella's, consists of a rechauffe of
the usual exploded theories of the Gersenists — namely, the
manuscripts asserted to be older than a Kempis, — the
famous Diarium de Advocatis, — the imagined quotations from
writers of the thirteenth century, — the Paulanus codex, —
and so on. It may be said of it, that what is new is not
true, and what is true is not new.

Probably the best comment I can make upon
Wolfsgruber's Life and Work of John Gersen is to record its
effect upon a learned critic, the late Pere Schneemann, S. J.,
who at the time he studied it inclined to the side of Gersen
and had actually written in his favour. The result of his
examination of this essay was to shake his former belief so
completely that he investigated the question anew, and
became an avowed and ardent Kempist. I shall translate
his words :—

Formerly I defended the rights of Gersen, and I believed
them to be indisputable ; I then took in hand, with the greatest
interest, Wolfsgruber's plea for Gersen. believing that I should
find therein arguments for my own justification. I was then in

528 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

the most favourable dispositions regarding Gersen ; but, after
having studied this work profoundly, I began to doubt, and the
rights of Gersen did not appear to me so certain. The more I
examined the question in all its aspects, the more I felt myself
led to believe that Thomas a Kempis had in reality written TJie
Imitation.'1

Subsequently, Schneemann contributed a remarkable
article in favour of Thomas a Kempis.

Since the publication of his work on John Gersen Dom
Wolfsgruber has edited a pamphlet, entitled Septem Motiva
contra Thomam de Kempis. Mon seigneur Puyol also quotes
this essay, the manuscript of which is to be found in the
National Library in Paris. The document is a remarkable
specimen of feebleness and confusion, and it is not easy to
understand why Wolfsgruber and Puyol avail themselves of
it, as it is certainly anti-Gersenist, and an absurdly weak
attempt to dispute the claims of the great monk of Mount
St. Agnes.

I am bound to confess myself indebted to Dom Wolfs-
gruber for my determination to examine the Paulanus
manuscript, upon which he lays considerable stress. As I
have already shown, this manuscript is worthless, its dates
being forged ; and I pointed out this to Dom Wolfsgruber
when I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance in
Vienna, in the autumn of 1889. He had no reply to make.

Leaving De Gregory, Mella, and Wolfsgruber, we come
to the most recent defender of the Gersenist fantasy — namely,
Monseigneur Puyol. This erudite writer approaches the
subject in a more scholarly fashion than his predecessors,
discusses its points with ingenuity and at prodigious length ;
but his arguments are shallow and his conclusions untenable.
Assuming that this learned divine, in his elaborate treatise
on The Imitation of Christ, has availed himself of all the
learning that has ever been brought forward in favour of
Gersen, I have read and re-read with close attention his
ponderous octavo of five hundred and thirty pages. If not
luminous, Puyol is certainly voluminous. I am obliged to
add that I cannot find in anything or in all that he brings
forward the smallest ground for accepting his opinions.

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST' 529

At first he endeavours to show a Benedictine origin of
The Imitation, and therein totally fails. Then he seeks to
depreciate a Kempis, and to represent him as incapable of
the authorship of the great book, Here, again, forgetting
or unconscious of the opposite demonstration of Rosweyd,
Amort, Coustou, and many others, whose knowledge on this
point far exceeds his own, he collapses most ignominiously.
Lastly, he seeks to represent The Imitation as an outcome
of the spiritual school of Italy in the thirteenth century.
The more we examine this theory the more visionary it
becomes, until it finally vanishes ; and we are thrown back
upon the obvious fact, that the inspiration of the book, its
phraseology and idioms, can only be found in the school of
Windeshiem. As an exercise of patience I can strongly
recommend Monsigneur Puyol's work to all who have
abundant leisure at their disposal.

So much for Gersen and his partisans. Naturally some
extravagant developments of Gersenism have taken place ;
but that was to be expected, remembering the absurdity of
the process by which this phantom was invented. Amongst
others, we find that in 1874 a statue was erected in the
parish church of Cavaglia in honour of Gersen, and that in
1884 another similar memorial was unveiled at Vercelli.
The latter ceremony gave occasion to the Archbishop of
Turin, Cardinal Alimonda, to deliver an eloquent address,
wherein he declares John Gersen to be the author of
The Imitation of Christ !

What, may I ask, do these statues prove ? — The inex-
tinguishable vigour of imagination. Gersen was the creation
of Cajetan's fancy, as Minerva was of Jupiter's brain ; but,
as Father Becker quaintly observes, Italy is full of statues
of Minerva, yet who would argue from thence that such a
being ever existed?

May I suggest to his Eminence, and to his hearers and
readers, the perusal of a notice of this discourse from the
pen of the Chanoine Delvigne, of Brussels. With all the
dignity, self-restraint, and scholarly perspicuity which
characterize this learned writer, he exposes, most respect-
fully, but scathingly, the startling indiscretion of such a

VOL. i. 2 L

530 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

pronouncement, coming from so high a dignitary, and from
so privileged a ground as the pulpit of a cathedral.

So much for John Gersen, of Vercelli. I have endea-
voured to discuss his candidature with becoming gravity,
although often sorely tempted in the opposite direction.

Having now disposed of Gersen and his advocates, I will
add, before concluding, a few observations concerning those
opponents of Thomas a Kempis who are unable to suggest
an author for The Imitation, but still revel in vain wander-
ings and crotchets.

We have already seen something of the essay. Septem
motiva contra Thomam de Kempis. The author is unknown,
and so much the better.

Some thirty-six years ago an ingenious and learned
author, M. Phillippe Tamizey de Larroque, wrote some
articles with the intention of showing that the internal
evidence of style, &c., in The Imitation, and in the admitted
works of Thomas a Kempis, tends to dispute the claims of
the pious Canon Eegular of Mount St. Agnes.

I have not found in these clever essays anything to
satisfy me that the author is justified in his conclusions,
and, on the other hand, I have observed some errors which
appear unaccountable. I shall say nothing of his style, except
that, despite its attractions, it is strikingly deficient in
judicial calm. M. de Larroque argues against a Kempis on
the ground that his acknowledged works contain certain
words and expressions not found in The Imitation, and vice
versa. Furthermore, that he treats some subjects rather
(but not substantially) differently from the author of The
Imitation. The discrepancies insisted upon byM.de Larroque
appear to me trifling, and altogether insufficient to support
his contention, unless, indeed, we were to grant what is not
alone against probability and experience, but even impos-
sible, naniety, that a given voluminous author like a Kempis,
who beyond doubt, was in addition a diligent compiler,
must of necessity repeat himself in thought, word, and
expression in all his works, and maintain the same level of
merit, irrespective of the subject in hand and the audience
to which he addresses himself.

THE AUTHOR OF THE 'IMITATION OF CHRIST' 531

M. de Larroque falls into some strange errors, of which
I shall single out one for illustration. He reminds us that
a Kempis loved rhyming, and that the author of The
Imitation did not, and therefore that Thomas could not
have been the author. This is a fundamental mistake, very
curious for a diligent reader, but excusable to some extent,
because M. de Larroque wrote in 1861, and Dr. Hirsche did
not publish his researches on the rhythm and rhyme of
The Imitation, until 1873. As a matter of fact, the rhythm
and rhyme of The Imitation, so identical with what we find
in a Kempis' other works, constitutes a most important proof
that Thomas was the author.

M. de Larroque concludes his brochure by some curious
speculations as to the personality of the real author. He
rejects a Kempis — likewise Gersen, with emphasis, and is
altogether doubtful about Gerson. But he hazards as far-
fetched a solution of the problem as I have yet encountered.
He tells us that the love of the French for the book points
to France as the country of its origin ' la predilection d'une
mere pour son enfant ! ' Had our author investigated the
internal evidence derived from the study of the linguistic
peculiarities of The Imitation — a point which he declines to
enter upon — I believe he would never have arrived at this
conclusion. I hope that when he masters the whole
evidence now before us, to a vast amount of which he does
not even allude, and much of which has come to light since
he wrote, he will arrive at a very different opinion respecting
the claims of the saintly Canon of Mount St. Agnes,

Another of the theorists who oppose a Kempis, is
Mr. Arthur Loth, of Paris. He holds that The Imitation was
probably written by a member of the Congregation of
Windesheim, prior to the time of Thomas, and he has placed
his views before the public in a series of articles in the Revue
des Questions Historiques, which occupy about one hundred
and fifty pages octavo. His conclusions are founded upon a
certain manuscript which he discovered some years ago in
the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, in which the first book
of The Imitation, and fragments of the third and fourth, are
found bound up with several treatises on spiritual and other

532 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

subjects. At the commencement of this collection is a
calendar, which according to Loth, points to the year 1406.
Upon this very sandy foundation he builds up the theory
that The Imitation of Christ was written before 1406, and
that therefore Thomas could not have been its author, as he
was only twenty-six years of age at that time.

A very short study suffices to upset this doctrine.
Assuming for the sake of brevity, that M. Loth is correct in
believing that the calendar dates back to 1406 — a very
questionable point indeed — we have yet to learn at what
period it and the other treatises in the volume, including the
portions of The Imitation, were bound up together. On
this point we have no indication whatsoever, and hence these
fragments of The Imitation may just as well date fifty years
later than the supposed calendar of 1406. The binding of
the MS. is quite modern.

Again, M. Loth endeavours to strengthen his assumption
as to the date of The Imitation of Christ by dwelling on the
fact that there are marginal notes in the manuscript which
allude to it as the De Imitationi Christi — a term not applied
to it in its earliest days. Here I am obliged to remark that
I believe he is not a careful observer. In June, 1884, I
examined this manuscript myself, and I am certain that the
aforesaid marginal notes are not written in the same hand-
ivriting or ink as the rest of the manuscript. Thus the
conclusion based on these notes goes for nothing, as they may
have been written fifty or a hundred years later than the
manuscript.

Finally, in his third article, M. Loth commits himself
to an assertion which shows much want of care in the
examination of the dbcuments respecting which he writes.
He gives a description of a manuscript, then the property of
Count Riant, in which, among other treatises, is found the
first book of The Imita tion of Christ. Further on is a work of
Floretus, bearing date 1416. Loth describes the manuscript as
homogeneous — that is, written by one hand — and argues
from thence that The Imitation of Christ was known
before 1416.

I have no intention of disputing the fact that the first

THE AUTHOR OF 'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST* 533

book of The Imitation was extant at that period, when
Thomas a Kempis was already thirty-six years of age — on
the contrary, I fully believe it ; but Loth's assertion that
Count Kiant's manuscript is homogeneous is positively
erroneous. In September, 1885, M. Ruelens showed me
photographs taken from different parts of this codex which
prove beyond doubt that it was written by several copyists.
Here, again, we find our author building on an unstable base
a structure which falls to the ground. In short, a critical
examination of M. Loth's elaborate articles forces us to the
conclusion that, despite his great ingenuity, high literary
ability, and very attractive style, his theories are unfounded,
and his conclusions erroneous.

I think it is now time for me to bring this discussion to
a close, and I believe everyone guided by the ordinary rules
of evidence will concede that I have answered the question,
with which I began, namely — ' Who was the author of
The Imitation of Christ"?

Of course this essay has been very brief, and intended
mainly to give a bird's-eye view of the subject, as a guide for
others who may wish to enter upon a more extended and
profound study of it. For all the authorities I must refer
to my essay of 1887. They would have been quite out of
place in the present little sketch.

I have told briefly the story of the appearance of the
great book, of the spiritual school from which it emanated,
of the great monk, Thomas a Kempis, in whose favour as
its author we find a crushing mass of evidence — traditional
— contemporaneous — external and internal. I have shown
that the mighty Chancellor Gerson was not its author ; that
the so-called John Gersen, of Vercelli, is a myth ; and that
the hypotheses of those theorists, who] oppose a Kempis,
although unable to suggest any other author, are baseless,
and full of mistakes, and erroneous statements.

In conclusion, I offer, on next page, a tabular summary
of the real state of the case, and leave the rest to the
judgment of my readers.

F. E. CRUISE, M.D.

534

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

B

ary Witnesses
to be found in his
(his brother and
ively adverse by
Five, shortly
, testify positively

e
Tw
ega
ilence

him

J..

Contemporary Witnesses

From amongst a crowd I have- quoted
urteen, of whom two knew him per-
nally, and three were members of his own
ier, and therefore representatives 'of the
mestic tradition which attributed the
.thorship to a Kempis long before any
ntroversy arose.
II.
External Evidence of Manuscripts

A large portion of the most ancient and
istworthy manuscripts, many dating
iring his life, and one in his own hand-
iting, point to him as the author.

III.

Internal Evidence

In favour of a Kempis we find —
I Identity of Style ; including"1

Common
to The

[ Imitation

J-s

•S aj
0-J3

g^

30

'Pn

M

"S

1 The Imitation, in part derived, word for
word, from the writings of the
'School of Windesheim,' of which
aKempis was the leading exponent.
) Also copiously derived from the Scrip-
ture, and the works of St. Bernard,
with both of which we know a Kempis
was specially familiar.

pecuuanties, viz. —
(a) Barbarisms.
(b) Italianized words.

s
-(j
c
>
B

•2

o

p

c

?

I
S

•i— 1

n3

a
I

sense.

(rf) Dutch idioms.
(e) Systematic rhythmical
punctuation

b B £ Q P Q

f_4

C\l CO

«*H oo O T3 03 0

-3 T3 f

[ 535 ]

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM

PAET I. — MATTES— continued

ORIGIN OP MATTER

"1 /TATEBIALISTS of course reject the idea of creation
IV_L or a Creator. According to Hackel the idea of a per-
sonal creator could only have arisen in the minds of the
' missing links ' while they were being slowly evolved from
apes into men ! Vogt says : ' The Creator must be put out
of doors unceremoniously, and we cannot allow the least
room for the operations of such a being.' Darwin, in his
Origin of Species, uses the words creator, creation several
times. Eeferring to this in a letter (1863) he says — ' I
have long regretted that I truckled to public opinion and
used the Pentateuchal term of creation, by which I really
meant appear by some wholly unknown process.'

Herbert Spencer refers the doctrine of special creation to
that pet limbo of his — ' the family of extinct beliefs.' In
one of his latest pronouncements on this subject, he says :
( The observed facts of daily experience, proving a constant
order amongst phenomena, negative the hypothesis [of special
creation].'1

The argument here advanced against the existence of a
Creator is so peculiar as to call for some special notice. It
rests on the extraordinary assumption that such a being
could not refrain from constant and arbitrary interference
with the order of nature ! The idea of a Supreme Being
that presents itself to the mind of the materialist is some
monstrous embodiment of irresponsible power totally un-
checked by adequate wisdom or forethought — a sort of
celestial Nero whose existence would mean cosmical chaos.
With this conception before his mind he triumphantly points
to the steady course of nature as proof positive that no such
being exists. Obviously our only answer to this strange

1 Nineteenth Century, Nov., 1895.

536 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

argument is transeat. We never dreamt of tracing the
existence or order of nature to such a monstrum horrendum as
our materialistic adversaries conjure up. Our contention stands
clear of all such fantastic nonsense. That a Being possessed
of infinite power should have created the things that are,
and with infinite wisdom should have impressed on them
the laws by which they were to be governed embodies no
contradiction that unprejudiced human reason can see. Nay,
this very order of nature can be reasonably accounted for on
no other hypothesis than that of an infinitely intelligent
First Cause. However, this strangely perverse argument
from wondrous order to the negation of an orderer, from
evident design to the negation of a designer, will meet us in
many disguises and at many points of our course. For the
present we return to our witnesses against creation.

Tyndall in his Apology for the Belfast Address (1875)i
says : — 'As far as the eye of science has hitherto ranged
through nature, no intrusion of purely creative power into
any series of phenomena has ever been observed.' But the
celebrated geologist, Sir Charles Lyell, has also some claim
to tell us what ' the eye of science ' observes, and this is
what he has to say : ' In whatever direction we pursue our
researches we discover everywhere clear proofs of a creative
intelligence, and of its foresight, wisdom, and power.' * And
Agassiz points to certain phenomena as exhibiting ' all the
wealth and intricacy of the highest mental manifestations,
and none of the simplicity of purely mechanical laws..' 2

Huxley exclaims : ' Choose your hypothesis. I have
chosen mine ; and I refuse to run the risk of insulting any
sane man by supposing that he holds such a notion as tha*
of special creation.' 8 And again, speaking of the theory of
creation : ' That such a verbal hocus-pocus should be
received as science will one day be regarded as evidence of
the low state of intelligence in the nineteenth century.' 4
But elsewhere5 he says creation is 'perfectly conceivable,

1 Principles of Geology, ii., p. 613.

2 Nineteenth Century, March, 1897.

3 Science and Culture.
* Lay Sermons, p. 248.

5 Nineteenth Century, February, 1886.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 537

and, therefore, no one can deny that it may have happened.
. . . Whether matter was created a few thousand years ago,
or whether it has existed through an eternal series of
metamorphoses, of which our present universe is only the last
stage, are alternatives, neither of which is scientifically
untenable, and neither of which is scientifically demon-
strable.'

This reads somewhat strangely after the ' hocus-pocus ' !
Which are we to believe — Huxley of the Lay Sermons or
Huxley of the Nineteenth Century ? But even within the
limits of the Lay Sermons themselves we find the preacher
holding different doctrines. In speaking of certain things
that have been referred to special .creation he says : ' It may
be so ; it may be otherwise. In the present condition of our
knowledge and our methods one verdict — not proven and
not provable — must be recorded.' *

AS TO THE OEIGIN OF MATTEE, MATERIALISTS AEE DIVIDED
INTO TWO PARTIES

1. Those of the school represented by Buchner hold that
it is eternal. Matter, they argue, is eternal because it is
indestructible : chemistry proves that no particle of matter
ever perishes. What cannot be destroyed was never
created. Therefore matter is eternal. This opinion is now
rather out of date. Of course the reasoning begs the whole
question as to a Creator in the Christian sense. Matter is
imperishable because the chemist cannot destroy it. In the
direct form the argument would read — matter was not
created because the chemist cannot create it. But this
would be too patently absurd ; so it had to be disguised
as above. Again, the proposition ' What, cannot be destroyed
was never created ' needs only to have certain omitted words
supplied to show its absurdity — ' What cannot be destroyed
by the chemist was never created by an Omnipotent God !'

The permanence of matter in scientific processes is an
absolutely necessary condition if these processes are to be of
any value for scientific deduction. Without this quality of

1 Page 185.

588 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

matter the science of chemistry as we know it could not
exist. If matter could suddenly appear or disappear in
chemical processes it would at once put an end to chemical
investigation as leading to any definite results. But to argue
from the permanence of matter in the hands of man to its
permanence in the hands of a Being whose power infinitely
transcends that of man, needs only plain statement for its
refutation.

Note how this great modern discovery of the permanence
of matter in scientific processes seems to shed new light on
some words in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, written thousands
of years ago, wherein we are told of the wonderful works
of God that 'nothing may be taken away, nor added.'1
How strange that it should be one of the greatest triumphs
of modern chemistry to prove the absolute accuracy of
this ancient saying down even to the infinitesimal atoms of
matter ! For the smallest atom is a work of God as truly
wonderful as a planet, and as far beyond man's power to
make or destroy. ' Though ancient systems may be dis-
solved and new systems evolved out of their ruins, the
molecules out of which these systems are built — the
foundation-stones of the material universe — remain un-
broken and unworn.'2

2. The materialists of our own day take an agnostic
stand — 'I don't know anything about it.' Darwin, in a
letter of September, 1878, says: — 'As to the eternity of
matter, I never trouble myself about such insoluble
questions.' In an earlier letter (1863) he calls such investi-
gations ' rubbish.' Tyndall says : ' If you ask the materialist
whence is this "matter" of which we have been discoursing,
he has no answer. Science is mute in regard to such
questions.' 3 ' Science knows nothing of the origin or destiny
of nature. Who or what made the ultimate particles of
matter, science does not know.' Here the question ob-
viously suggests itself — If ' science knows nothing of the

1 Chap, xviii. 5. 3 Scientific Materialism.

2 Clerk Maxwell. 4 Vitality.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 539

origin' of matter, how can it say that matter was not
created ?

Huxley says : ' The scientific investigator is wholly
incompetent to say anything at all about the first origin
of the material universe.' l This is so nice and consistent
from the author of the ' hocus-pocus ' opinion !

Sir E. S. Ball, when proceeding to evolve the world from
the nebula, and prepare it as a canvas for Darwin to draw
thereon ' the noblest picture that modern science has pro-
duced,' has to begin in this lame fashion: 'We do not
inquire how the original nebula came into being ; we begin
with the actual existence of this nebula' — which, no doubt, is
very convenient. He vainly wrestles with the ' very cele-
brated difficulty ' of the origin of life ; but he prefers not to
inquire about the origin of matter, regarding which one
would expect an astronomer to be more curious.

So far, then, we do not seem to have got hold of many
definite ideas about this scientific materialism. We have
been assured that all things, ourselves included, have come
from ' fiery clouds' and ' cosmic vapour ;' that far better men
are still ' potential in the fires of the sun ;' that matter is
' essentially mystical and transcendental,' ' a double-faced
unity' of absolutely contradictory qualities, which just
manage to abide together by a wonderful method of ' close
succession,' perhaps like so many small boys clinging to each
other's coat-tails ; that the doctrine of creation is an ' extinct
belief,' ' an insult to any sane man,' 'a verbal hocus-pocus,'
fit only for the half-developed brains of ' missing links ;' and
finally — and after all this, most surprising — that we don't
know what matter is, or where it came from, or whether
there is any such thing at all ! This does not seem a satis-
factory return for the expenditure of so much time and
printer's ink, especially as it is all assertion without a
single atom of proof. But we must take things as we find
them. We have let the scientific philosophers speak for
themselves, and so far this is absolutely all they have got to

1 Nineteenth Century, February, 1886.

540 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

say. A rather beggarly philosophy when stripped of its
gleaming garment of fiery cloud and sometimes equally
fiery language ! Truly ' a verbal hocus-pocus ' — I thank
thee, Huxley, for teaching me that word ! — ' a verbal hocus-
pocus, which will one d&y be regarded as evidence of the low
state of intelligence in the nineteenth century !'

Some of the latest results of scientific investigation into
the ultimate constitution of matter may be interesting.
They are mathematical deductions from experimental data,
and are almost entirely due to Lord Kelvin, who enjoys the
rare distinction of being at the same time a great mathe-
matician and a great experimental scientist. The novel
problem he proposed to himself was — What is the bulk of
the ultimate particles of a substance? That there are
ultimate particles of definite bulk seems demonstrably true
at least of compound substances.1 There is a limit to the
divisibility of a compound substance beyond which further
division gives, not smaller particles of the substance, but
other totally different substances. This seems to indicate
that the division has now become finer than the grain of the
substance, so to speak, and has resulted in the splitting up of
its ultimate particles. To give a rough illustration — We
may go on dividing a bag of nuts until we reach the indi-
vidual nut. This is the limit beyond which we cannot go
and still have nuts. The individual nuts are the smallest
portions of the original substance that are fully represen-
tative of it, and can be called by its name, nuts. They
may be said to represent the ultimate particles of the
substance nuts. We may carry the division further ; but
we then get, not still smaller nuts, but other things wh?~h
are not nuts, and cannot be so called. We get, in fact, the
things of which nuts are made up — bits of shell, kernel, &c.
Our division has now become finer than the grain of the bag

1 Lord Kelvin's investigation, if we rightly apprehend its limits, does
not extend to the ultimate simple atom. That slippery entity has hitherto
eluded even the far-reaching power of mathematics. Whether its latest form
— Lord Kelvin's vortex atom— will continue to baffle the mathematical skill of
its parent remains to be seen. Even in the case of ultimate compound particles,
though mathematics may tell us something about their size, no science can tell
us anything whatever about their actual structure, shape, or appearance.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 541

of nuts, and resulted in the breaking up of its smallest
representative particles.

This is of course a very crude illustration ; but it will
help us to follow what takes place in the case of, suppose,
water. Water may be very finely divided by heat and rare-
faction, its particles being driven farther and farther apart,
until each stands practically isolated from its fellows in the
attenuated vapour. That state would be represented by our
nuts spread out widely on a table. If we could get hold of
one of those particles, and examine it, we should find it to
be, like the individual nut, a perfect representative of the
original substance — as truly water as would be a bucketful
of the liquid. But these particles are the smallest portions
of the substance that are thus representative, and that can
still be called water. Like the individual nuts, they repre-
sent the limit of division, beyond which we cannot go and
still retain the original substance, water. With the keen
edge of the electric current we may actually carry the
division a step farther; but then we get, not still smaller
particles of water, but things quite different from water—
two gases, of which it may be otherwise shown that water
is made up. Here then we reach a limit of divisibility in
water, from which we conclude that water has ultimate
particles.

What is the bulk of these ultimate particles, and how
near are they to each other in the liquid ? By four different
methods, resting on independent physical data. Lord Kelvin
arrived at the following approximate results : —

1. The distance between the centres of contiguous
particles of water is approximately the 500,000,000th of an
inch. ' This is the measure of the coarse-grain edness of
what appears to our eyes, and even to our most powerful
microscopes, to be absolutely uniform matter." l

2. " The effective diameter of a particle must be some-
thing certainly not far from one — 250,000,000th of an

1 J< 0

inch. '

If a spherical drop of water be one-eighth of an inch in

1 Tait's Recent Advances in Physical Science, p. 320. 2 Ibid., p. 322.

542 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

diameter, its bulk, compared with that of its ultimate
particles, would be about as the bulk of the earth to that of
a large plum. In other words, if the water-drop were
magnified to the size of the earth, its ultimate particles, or
what we may call its grain, would appear about as large as
plums.

These results of purely scientific investigation show how
absurd are the vapourings of scientific doctrinaires who are
so ready to tell us all about the nature and ' potentialities '
of matter. They might just as rationally discourse about
the personal appearance and ways of the man in the moon.
When Professor Bain, for instance, undertakes to describe
the two sides of an atom, pretty much as we might talk of
the two sides of a penny, we can only suppose him poking
some obscure form of Scotch fun.

Nothing is more preposterously unscientific [says Professor
Tait] than to assert (as is constantly done by quasi-scientific
writers of the present day) that with the utmost strides attempted
by science, we should necessarily be sensibly nearer to a concep-
tion of the ultimate nature of matter.1

We may consider that Lord Salisbury voiced the present
state of knowledge in his presidential address to the British
Association, three years ago : —

What the atom of each element is ; whether it is a move-
ment, or a thing, or a vortex, or a point having inertia ; whether
there is any limit to its divisibility, and, if so, how that limit is
imposed ; whether the long list of elements is final, or whether
any of them have any common origin — all these questions remain
surrounded by a darkness as profound as ever.

.

DEFINITIONS.

It may be well to explain a few scientific terms, chiefly
chemical, which are in constant use in works on the present
subject. In these definitions the ordinary chemical theory
of matter is assumed.

1 Page 288.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 543

ELEMENT, COMPOUND, MIXTUEE.

A chemical element is a substance which cannot, by any
known means be split up into other substances different
from itself. It may be solid, liquid, or gaseous ; e.g., gold,
mercury, oxygen gas. A chemical compound is a substance
that can be split up into other substances different from
itself; e.g., water, which can be decomposed into two gases.
The substances into which a compound breaks up are always
found to weigh exactly the same as the original compound.
Compounds usually exhibit qualities widely different from
those of their constituent elements. Thus common salt, an
article of diet, is made up, of a poisonous metal and a deadly
gas ; water, a heavy liquid, is made up of two gases, one of
them being the lightest substance known ; carbonic acid, a
suffocating gas, is made up of a harmless solid and a gas
which may be said to be the chief necessary of life.

A mere mixture of two or more substances is a very
* different thing from a chemical compound of the same
substances. Thus a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen is not
water. It is gaseous, and would of itself remain so. The
molecules of the two gases remain as distinct as the grains
in a mixture of salt and sand. Put a light to the gaseous
mixture, and at once the gases combine with explosive
violence, every two atoms of hydrogen uniting with aa
atom of oxygen to form the compound, water.

ATOM. MOLECULE.

Atom is used of elementary substances only; molecule, of
either elementary or compound substances. Thus we can
speak of an atom of sulphur, but not of salt; while we can speak
of a molecule of either. An atom is the smallest part of an
elementary substance, separable by chemical means. A
molecule is the smallest separable part of a compound sub-
stance, or the smallest part of an elementary substance that
subsists alone. The ultimate free particles of all substances,
elementary or compound, are molecules. The only difference
in this respect between elementary and compound bodies is
that the elementary molecule is made up of atoms of the

544 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

same kind ; while the compound molecule is made up of
atoms of different kinds. Thus a molecule of oxygen gas
consists of two oxygen atoms ; a molecule of water, of two
hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

CRYSTALLINE. AMORPHOUS.

Most substances in passing from the fluid or gaseous to the
solid state tend to assume regular geometrical shapes. This
phenomenon is called crystallization, and the geometrically-
shaped solids resulting from it are called crystals. A
beautiful example of crystallization may often be seen on
our windows on a frosty morning. The lovely fern-like
tracery is simply crystallized water, condensed from the
moisture in the air of the room. Many familiar substances
readily crystallize from solution or fusion. Dissolve common
' blue vitriol ' in boiling water as long as any will dissolve.
On allowing the solution to cool slowly, without shaking,
beautiful crystals will appear. <

As a rule, the crystalline form of a substance is definite
and constant, and may, in many cases, afford a means of
identifying the substance.

Crystallization is assumed to be due to the action of
molecular attractions and repulsions. The molecules of a
crystalline substance are supposed to be endowed with
attractive and repellent poles, like so many small magnets.
When the substance is solidifying from a state of solution,
or fusion, or vapour, these polar forces come into play ; and
the molecules, instead of being allowed to settle down any
way, like mud out of water, are pulled into certain positions
with regard to each other, thereby gradually building up
crystals. Molecular attraction, as thus manifested, is spoken
of as crystalline force.

Amorphous, as its derivation suggests, means the opposite
of crystalline — shapeless, showing no tendency to set
in geometrical forms. The term is sometimes applied
to fluids ; thus a drop of water may be said to be amorphous.
However, its application is usually restricted to solid bodies
which show no tendency to crystallize.

Some crystalline bodies have, under certain conditions, an

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 545

amorphous form as well. An interesting example is sulphur,
which, under different conditions, shows two distinct crys-
talline forms and an amorphous form. What becomes of
the crystalline force in the latter case does not seem to be
clearly understood.

OEGANIC. INOEGANIC.

As first used in technical chemistry, organic was applied
to compounds which were then known to be produced only
by living things, e.g., alcohol, turpentine, sugar ; inorganic
to compounds produced in inanimate nature or in the
laboratory, e.g., carbonic acid, water, common salt. Such a
distinction, as far as the original meaning is concerned, is
now quite out of date, many of the so-called organic com-
pounds being easily produced with the immensely enlarged
resources of modern chemistry. For educational purposes,
however, the old classification is retained, as conveniently
dividing chemical compounds into two great groups, the
members of which differ widely in complexity of structure-
organic compounds, though made up of but few elements,
(chiefly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen), being as a
rule much more complex than inorganic.

Outside chemical text-books the word organic is now used
rather of 'structures' than of ' substances.' It may be well to
particularize the use of the word 'structure' in this connection,
its application in ordinary speech being somewhat loose.
'Structure, as here applied, always supposes definite arrange-
ment of parts with regard to each other and to a whole ;
such as is seen, for example, in a brick wall. This definite
arrangement of parts is found in the works of nature as well
as in the works of man. Crystals are examples of ' natural
structure.' resulting from the spontaneous action of forces
inherent in the molecules of substances. There is another
kind of natural structure, totally different from crystalline,
and resulting from the action of a force not inherent in the
molecules of matter, but quite distinct and distinguishable
from matter and its attractions. Of this force, under the
name of ' vital force,' we shall afterwards have much to say.
Here we have merely to state that under its influence matter

VOL. i. 2 M

546 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

supplied as nutriment to Jiving things, animal and vegetable,
is built up into ' structures,' not crystalline, but as definite,
and far more complex and varied. Such structures are
called organic structures. Any portion of a plant or
animal — leaf, stem, or pith — skin, bone, or muscle — may be
taken as an example of organic structure. ' Organism' is a
term applied to a complete, individual, organic structure,
made up of co-ordinated structural parts, few or many, and
animated throughout, such as a particular plant, fish,
dog, &c.

THE NEBULAE HYPOTHESIS

Heat a solid lump of ice, and it becomes liquid water.
Continue to heat the water, and it ultimately takes the form
of vapour. Vice versa, gradually cool water vapour, and it
takes, first, the liquid, and, finally, if the cooling be con-
tinued, the solid form. The same thing may be done with
various other substances; e.g., sulphur, mercury, iron, &c.
Experiment has gone far enough to warrant the assumption
that even the most stubborn mineral substances would, under
the influence of a sufficiently high temperature, become
gaseous.

The earth is now exteriorly a solid body. But the solid
crust affords abundant proof that it was once liquid ; and
volcanoes are only one of many evidences that the interior
is still in a molten state. Hence it may be regarded as
scientifically demonstrable that the earth was once a molten
mass of enormously high temperature.

The present physical condition of the sun 1 suggests a
further supposition, viz., that the liquid condition of our
globe was preceded by a gaseous condition. It is not
unreasonable to assume a similar condition of things in
regard to the other planets of our system. It seems hardly
necessary to remark that a body in the gaseous state
occupies an enormously larger space than in the solid or

1 ' The source of sunlight may not be a solid or even liquid globe — it may
be merely a great thickness of very hot and highly compressed gas ; in fact, it
seems quite possible that no portion of the body of the sun may be as yet even
liquid.' — Tail's Recent Advances in Physical Science, third edition, p. 250.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 547

liquid state ; we have only to recall how a small quantity of
water will develop an immense volume of steam. This
physical fact leads to the supposition that the gaseous
matter of the planets and sun ones combined and com-
mingled to form one immense fire-mist, whirling through
space. This would be called the nebulous condition of
things, out of which the present solar system was after-
wards evolved.

To bring about this evolution of the solid bodies of the
solar system from that nebulous state, we have to introduce
two other factors, viz., force and motion. The huge fire-
cloud was in a state of rapid rotation round its own centre.
As it gradually cooled, it shrunk ; and as it shrunk, the
rapidity of rotation, by a well-known mechanical principle,
increased. As these two processes — shrinkage and increas-
ing velocity — went on, portions of the edge of the cloud
were from time to time flung off. These portions would
at once gather and rotate round their own respective
centres, while at the same time continuing their former
rotation round the common centre. These detached masses,
gradually condensed to liquid globes, formed the planets, one
of them being our earth. Finally, of the original fire-mist
there was left still clinging together only that portion which
we know as the sun, which, now in all probability partly
liquid and partly gaseous, still continues to cool, and shrink,
and whirl as of old — a vivid object-lesson in astronomical
history.

The cooling of the liquid planets went slowly on until
the temperature of the outer surface fell below the melt-
ing-point, and a solid crust formed around each mas?.
Following now the story of our own earth, we can suppose
it still cooling for a long period after the formation of the
outer crust before its temperature would allow of the con-
densation of the water vapour in its atmosphere. After
this came the time ' when the earth was void and empty.'
During that time the dry land was heaved up, and the
waters thereby gathered into oceans. Then went on the
disintegration of the surface by atmospheric influences,
slowly preparing a soil for plant life.

548 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

This supposed evolution of our planetary system from an
original fire-mist is known as the nebular hypothesis. We
see that it makes no attempt to account for the origin of
matter. It assumes the existence of the matter of the
planetary system with all its forces, and with incandescence
and rotation as well, and then endeavours to account for its
present physical condition. Even as regards this we should
bear in mind that it is merely a hypothesis, and, we may
add, is likely to remain so. As a scientific hypothesis, pro-
fessing to account for a certain physical condition of things,
nothing need be said against it, while scientifically a good
deal may be said for it.1 But with that we are not here
concerned. In treating the next section of our subject-
Life, what it is, and whence it is — we shall meet with
several references to the nebular hypothesis, and see some
astonishing powers attributed to the ancient fire-mist and
the cooling planets.

We can at once see its bearing on the origin of terrestrial
life ; for clearly there could be no life in the original fire-
mist, nor on the molten planet, nor even for a long time after
the formation of the surface crust. This necessity of account-
ing for the first appearance of life on the earth we shall find
to be one of the chief difficulties of materialism ; and later
on we shall find the limitation of the age of the habitable
earth a stumbling-block in the path of Darwin.

SCIENTIFIC

It may be well to call attention to an acquired meaning
of this word. When met with in the materialistic writings
of Tyndall, Huxley, and the rest, it must be always undei-

1 Several well-known facts favour this hypothesis. 1. All the planets
revolve round the sun in the same direction. 2. The inner planets travel faster
in their orbits than the outer ones. 3. Both planets and sun revolve in the
same direction round their own axes. 4. The sun is still cooling and shrinking.
The shrinkage amounts to about four miles a century in the diameter of the
sun. 5. The evidence afforded by the crust of the earth and by the present
condition of the sun point to previous liquid, and even gaseous states. 6. Spec-
trum analysis shows that a large number of substances are common to the sun
and the earth, suggesting the formation of both bodies from the same original
raw material. We have no means of extending this comparison to the
planets.

MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 549

stood in a sense which may be not extravagantly stated
thus : —

We alone, the evolutionary school, represent true science up
to date. All other scientists, however numerous or eminent,
don't count. Hence ' scientific men ' means us exclusively ;
' scientific thought ' is our thought ; ' the scientific method ' is
our patent method of proceeding from absolutely groundless con-
jecture by the way of assumption and assertion to practical
certainty. In a word, science is our science, and we alone are its
prophets.

Hence when Tyndall describes ' the eye of science ' as
searching in vain for any ' intrusion of purely creative power,'
bear in mind that he refers to an evolutionary eye that
is persistently blind to all such ' intrusions.' "When he
pictures the ' scientific man ' proceeding by sure steps to
evolve all existing things out of star-dust, that ' scientific
man ' is simply the aggregate personality of the evolutionary
school. When he blandly informs you that the great argu-
ment for the evolution theory is ' its general harmony with
scientific thought,' don't be deceived — the 'scientific thought'
with which the theory is ' in harmony' is simply the ' thought'
of its framers and advocates — which sufficiently accounts for
the ' harmony' ! And so for the other philosophers of this
school.

E. GATNOE, C.M.

[ 550 ]

IRotee anb (Queries

THEOLOGY

ABE PRIESTS CASUALLY VISITING A PLACE BOUND TO SAY
A PAROCHIAL MASS TO PREVENT DUPLICATION ? IF
THEY REFUSE, ARE THEY TO BE PERMITTED TO
CELEBRATE PRIVATELY?

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Will you kindly answer the following in
next number of I. B. EECORD : —

A priest on vacation is spending Sunday in a parieh where the
local priests must duplicate — (a) Is he bound to say one of the
parochial Masses to prevent duplication ? (b) If he refuses to say
one of the parochial Masses, is it lawful for the parish priest to
give him permission to say a private Mass ?

P.P.

(a) In the circumstances, of course, this priest on vaca-
tion would be naturally and rightly expected to offer his
services in order to relieve the parochial clergy and prevent
duplication. But we know of no strict obligation. Abso-
lutely speaking, he is not bound to celebrate at all, that is,
provided that he hears Mass, and that he is not bound to say
Mass pro populo ; much less is he bound to take up one of
the parochial Masses, (b) Unless there be a local prohibi-
tion, the parish priest is justified in permitting him to cele-
brate. Such a prohibition has been sometimes enforced.

INTEGRITY OF CONFESSION WHERE THE PENITENT HAS
ALREADY NARRATED HIS SINS < MODO HISTORICO '

EEV. DEAR SIR, — A person came to me one day, and began to
chat about himself and the serious faults he had been committing.
He then suddenly fell on his knees, and said : ' Now that I have
told you so much, I had better make a real confession. I now
renew in confession what I have told you out of confession.'
He then gave further details to make his confession complete.

NOTES AND QUERIES 551

After he had made some fervant acts of contrition I gavo him
absolution.

All my friends tell me that the absolution was invalid, and
that if he comes to me again I must make him tell me all his
sins, secundum numerum et speciem, in confession. What say
you to this decision?

A. B.

If, while receiving the general accusation in ordine abso-
lutionem, the confessor retained — as, no doubt, he did — a
distinct memory of the sins which he had already heard, he
need not be in the least disturbed by the opinions of his
critics. Sb. Alphonsus himself, while rejecting the opinion
of Lugo, who maintains that a general accusation in ordine
ad absolutionem of sins already mentioned modo historico is in
every case sufficient, admits that such a general accusation
is sufficient, provided and as long as the confessor still
retains a distinct recollection of the penitent's sins ; 'posset
admitti [opinio Lugonis], si confessarius dum poenitens se
accusat de peccitis [jam modo historico] narratis distinctam
eorum haberet notitiam.' (Homo Apostolicus, Tr. 1C, n. 44.)
This teaching is quite certain, and our correspondent may
confidently refer his friends to St. Alphonsus, De Lugo,
Gury, Ballerini, Lehmkuhl, Vindiciae Alphonsianae.

2. If the confessor from the beginning intended to try and
induce the person to receive absolution, then, according to
Lugo, Ballerini, Lehmkuhl, a general accusation in ordine
ad absolutionem will suffice as long as the confessor remem-
bers, even in a general way, the sins and the state of the
penitent.

3. Finally, according to Lugo, Ballerini, and others, a
general accusation of sins already narrated, as long as the
confessor remembers them in confession, will in all cases
suffice, even though neither penitent nor confessor thought
of sacramental confession when the sins were being told in
the first instance. Antefactum, we would not act on this
opinion ; post factum, we would not urge a strict obligation
of repeating a confession made in this way.

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

DOES BESEBVATION AFFECT SINS COMMITTED BUT NOT
ABSOLVED BEFORE THE BESEBVATION COMES INTO
FOBCE ?

KEY. DEAK Sin, — A certain sin is now for the first time
reserved, without a censure, by the bishop in this diocese. Can I
still, without special faculties, absolve from such sins, provided
that they have not been committed since the reservation was
made?

C. C.

The confessor could, of course, absolve if there were an
express provision to the effect that the reservation was
meant to affect only sins committed after the reservation
was made. Again, he could absolve if he knew, either from
the express will of the superior or from the recognised
custom of the diocese, that ignorance Would excuse from this
reservation. Manifestly, all persons were ignorant of the
reservation until it was made. But, outside these cases,
the reservation must be taken to affect sins committed
before, as well as after, the case was reserved.

Si eo tempore [in quo absolutio datur peccata] sint reservata,
nihil proderit, quod ante reservationem fuerint admissa.1

D. MANNIX.

1 D'Annibale, pars. "I., n. 341. See also Bucceroni, Comment. I)e Caxibiis
Rcservatis, n. 24.

NOTES AND QUERIES 553

LITURGY

THE EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES OF CERTAIN RELIGIOUS

ORDERS

EEV. DEAE SIB, — I should be obliged for an answer to the
following : —

In the Propaganda Faculties for investing in scapulars, has
the phrase ' exceptis locis ubi adsunt Eegulares,' &c., any force at
the present day ? I understand that some priests hold it has not,
and, therefore, a priest having such faculties can invest in
scapulars, even though he is within very easy distance of
such 'Eegulares.'

SCAPULAE.

The fact that the phrase about which our correspondent
inquires is still to be found in the formula granting the
faculties is a sufficient proof of its binding character. The
restriction on the use of the faculties granted through
Propaganda which this phrase indicates, could not cease
unless formally withdrawn by the Holy Father ; and of such
a withdrawal there is no evidence.

It is important, then, to know the precise meaning of
this phrase ; or, in other words, to define what is meant by
the ' locus ' of a religious house or monastery.

We are of opinion that, when a house of one of the orders
referred to in this phrase is situated in a small town or
village included in a single parish, or in a compact country
parish, a secular priest, having Propaganda Faculties, could
not. bless the scapulars, &c., peculiar to that order. But if
the house be situated in a large city, in which there are
several parishes, then the influence of the order in this
matter does not extend beyond the limits of the parish in
which they live. And if the parish in which the house is
situated — whether it be a city parish or a country parish —
be so large that it requires two or three churches or chapels,
then we are of opinion that the exception contained in the
Propaganda formula applies only to what might be regarded
as the territorial division of the parish in which the house
is situated. Speaking of the exclusive privilege enjoyed by

554 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

the Franciscans of erecting the Stations of the Cross in
the ' places ' wherein are situated their convents, Beringer
says : —

Ce serait un erreur de croire que le droit exclusif des Fran-
ciscains s'etend toujours aussi loin que les limites de la paroisse
ou ils habitent, meme quand celle-ci comprend des localites fort
distantes les unes des autres.1

QUESTIONS REGARDING THE NUPTIAL BLESSING, THE
BLUE SCAPULAK, AND INDULGENCE!) BEADS

KEY. DEAR SIR, — Kindly give your opinion on the following
two points : —

1. Two couples wish to be married on the same morning.
I wish to impart to them the nuptial blessing. Please let me
know if the one blessing will suffice for the two pairs ?

2. I have faculties for enrolling in the Blue Scapular, and of
attaching the Dominican indulgences to beads. Might I ask
must persons using the aforesaid scapular and beads have their
names enrolled ; and must those names be sent to a convent of the
Servites, and to a place where the confraternity of the Rosary is
established ?

C.C.

1. The nuptial blessing read once, and in the singular
number, suffices no matter how many couples are to receive the
blessing in the same Mass. The celebration of the nuptial
Mass and the giving of the nuptial blessing are functions
which dejure pertain to the parish priest, and nowhere is it
stated that, if two or more marriages are celebrated on the
same day, the parish priest is bound to delegate another or
other priests to impart the blessing. Hence, as several
marriages may be celebrated on the same day, it follows that
the parish priest can give the nuptial blessing to all those
who have been married. But this blessing cannot be given .
apart from Mass, and as the parish priest can celebrate only
one Mass on the same day, it necessarily follows that he can
give the blessing to all at the same time. Moreover, in the

1 Vol. i.,p. 271.

NOTES AND QUERIES 555

missal the prayers are given in the singular number, and no
direction is given that they are to be read in the plural when
more than one couple receive the blessing at the same time.
Hence the prayers are always to be recited as they are in the
missal.

2. The Blue Scapular is not the badge of any confrater-
nity ; hence it is not necessary that the names of those who
wear it or receive it should be enrolled.

It is not necessary to enrol the names of those to whom
beads bearing the Dominican blessing are given. With
such beads the ordinary indulgences for reciting the Rosary
can be gained by anyone. But in order to gain the immense
indulgences attached to the confraternity of the Rosary it is,
of course, necessary to be enrolled in the register of a validly
erected confraternity.

SHOULD THE BELL BE BUNG DURING SOLEMN MASS?

EEV. DEAR SIR, — Kindly say, in the next issue of I. E. EECORD.
whether there is any necessity for ringing the altar bells at a
High Mass. It would seem to me that they ought not to be
rung, because it is not necessary, and because it causes great
inconvenience. First of all, it is not necessary. The object of
ringing these bells is, of course, to call the attention of the people
to the principal parts of the Mass. Now, in a High Mass this is
sufficiently done by the singing. When the priest, after the
Gospel or Creed sings Dominus vobiscum and Oremus, the people
know that the Offertory is about to begin. The Sanctus is heard
from the Choir, and when it is over, the Elevation takes place.
Again, when the Agnus Dei is sung, the people know that the
Communion is approaching. There is no need, therefore, for the
bells. But they are also very objectionable from a musical point
of view, especially when they themselves, as is the case, par-
ticularly with the ' gongs,' are 'musical ;' that is to say, have a
very pronounced pitch, or even are tuned in a chord. Then the
dissonances they usually make with the harmonies of the choir
are very exasperating. Imagine, for instance, the strains of the
Sanctus dying away before the Elevation, and these bells setting
in a key, say three quarters of a tone away from that of the choir !
and how grating on a musical ear ! Then, again, if the Choir

556 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

begins the Benedictus, how false must their singing sound,
after the ear has got accustomed to the key of the altar bells !
Unless, therefore, there is strict law prescribing the ringing of
these bells, I should say that they ought not to be rung. — Yours,
faithfully,

Musicus.

We are glad for our correspondent's sake that there is no
strict law requiring the bell to be rung either at a solemn or
a private mass. The rubric prescribing the ringing of the
bell during Mass is not preceptive, but merely directive, as
may be easily inferred from the rubric itself : —

Ad Crucis pedem ponatur Tabella Secretarum appellata. In
cornu Epistolae cussinus supponendus Missali, et in eadem parte
Epistolae paretur cereus ad elevationem Sacramenti accen-
dendus, parva campanula, ampullae vitreae vini et aquae, cum
pelvicula et manutergio mundo, in fenestella seu in parva rnensa
ad haec praeparata.1

From this rubric it is clear that the bell is no more
necessary than the charts, the book-stand, the candle for
the time of the consecration, the glass cruets, or the basin
to be used at the Lavabo. Now, the charts are merely an orna-
ment, or at most a convenience, the cussinus of the rubric is
now made of all kinds of wood and metal, and no priest be-
lieves its use obligatory ; the candle to be lighted at the
elevation is almost entirely obsolete ; for the glass cruets,
ornamental vessels in metal are (we regret to say) often
substituted, and the altar-steps or the floor have, unfortun-
ately, to do duty sometimes for the basin. That this rubric
is merely directive is the opinion of all writers who refer to
the matter. Thus Quarti, who is approvingly quoted by
De Herdt, says : —

Ea quae praescribuntur in hae rubrica de Tabella, cussino,
campanula ampullis pelvicula, manutergio sunt materiae instruc-
tionis non praecepti ; consequenter non committitur peccatum
contra praeceptum ecclesiasticum in eorum omissione vel mu-
tatione.2

The object of the bell is, as our correspondent justly

1 Bub. Missal, Tit. 20. 2 P. i., Tit. 20, Dub. 12.

NOTES AND QUERIES 557

remarks, to call the attention of the congregation, and
especially those members of the congregation who cannot
see the altar, to the principal parts of the Mass. And when
this function is otherwise effectively discharged, as it un-
doubtedly is in a solemn Mass, there is not the smallest
reason for ringing the bell. Moreover, if the ringing of the
bell during solemn Mass disturbs the choir, as our corre-
spondent declares it does, not only need it not be rung, but
it should not be rung. The directive rubrics lay down gene-
ral principles intended merely to guide in the becoming
celebration of the sacred mysteries, and to help to excite
devotion in the hearts of those who assist thereat. Hence
in the directive rubrics what the Church has in view is the
end to be attained rather than the means for attaining it.
If, then, the ringing of the bell during solemn Mass inter-
feres with the singing of the choir, or even if it irritates the
more highly cultured musicians present, whether they are
members of the choir or not, it should be omitted.

D. O'LOAN.

[ 558

CORRESPONDENCE

SUM REQUIRED TO FOUND A BURSE IN MAYNOOTH

COLLEGE

[The following questions have been sent to us, with the
request that we should publish the answers in these pages.
As our correspondent has not given us his name, and as the
questions are of practical importance to a great institution,
we comply with his request. The questions have been
submitted to the proper authorities, and the answers here
given are approved of by them.

EDITOR I.E.E.J

EEV. DEAR SIB, — Please answer the following questions in
an early number of the I. E. EECOBD : —

A parish priest, anxious to establish a burse in Maynooth
College, but wishing to get a return after the manner of
4 Frankalmoign/ asks : —

1. Would the College, in the event of his giving or bequeathing
the required sum, bind itself to have Masses said publicly, and in
perpetuity for the benefit of his soul ?

2. In case it would, then, how many Masses per annum would
it undertake to have said ?

3. And what is the least sum of money sufficient to found
such a burse ?

EEDIVIVUS.

1. When a free place or portion of a free place is
established in the College, the founder may secure that a
number of Masses shall be offered publicly and in perpetuity
for his intention. Two distinct methods of doing so have
hitherto been followed. The more secure method is to
direct that a certain portion of the dividends on the invest-
ment shall be applied in having Masses offered for the
founder's intention. Where directions of this kind are
given, the College will undertake to have them carried out.
It will not, however, bind itself absolutely to a fixed number
of Masses, but only to apply the amount specified in having
Masses offered at the rate of the ordinary stipend.

The other mode of securing the same object is to direct

CORRESPONDENCE 559

that a particular student shall be nominated to the burse,
and that upon his ordination to the priesthood he shall
publicly offer a certain number of Masses yearly, either in
perpetuity, or till his successor in the enjoyment of the burse
shall have been ordained priest. We do not, however,
hesitate to recommend that the first method be in all cases
adopted.

For every burse established in the College a full
equivalent is given in the maintenance of an ecclesiastical
student; and, consequently, the College is not in a position
to provide Masses in consideration of such burse, unless a
portion of the dividends be set aside for the purpose.

2. If a special fund is created for the purpose, the
College will undertake to apply it in having Masses offered
at the rate of the ordinary stipend. Should the obligation
be imposed on the student by whom the burse is to be
enjoyed, any reasonable number of Masses may be required.
It may be well to state here that every benefactor of the
College, whether living or dead, participates in the suffrages
of the College, and that for deceased benefactors a Solemn
Kequiem Office and Mass are celebrated on a fixed day in
each year.

3. The amount varies with the interest, any sum which
yields £30 a-year being sufficient to establish a full burse.
At present Trustee Securities yield scarcely three per cent,
and, consequently, about £1,000 would be required if the
money were handed over to the College Trustees for invest-
ment. Intending benefactors may, however, themselves
invest in Securities that bear a higher rate of interest, and
such investments will be accepted by the Trustees,
provided they do not involve any liability beyond the
amount of the investment. In this way a full burse may
be established for a sum considerably less than £1,000.
Besides, the Trustees are willing to accept, not only a full
burse, but any portion of a burse ; and any sum or invest-
ment, however small, will be gratefully accepted, and devoted
to the maintenance of an ecclesiastical student who might,
perhaps, be otherwise unable to prosecute his studies for the
priesthood.

[ 560 ]

DOCUMENTS

BISHOPS CAN APPROVE OF TRANSLATIONS OF THE LITTLE
OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, BUT ONLY FOR
PRIVATE RECITATION

BUSCODUCEN. DUBIA QUOAD OFFICIUM PARVUM B. M. VIEGINIS

Die 24 Aprilis 1896.

Kinus Dominus Guglielmus Van de Yen, Episcopus Busco-
ducensis, a S. K. Congregations sequentium dubiorum solutionem
humiliter efflagitavit, nimirum :

I. An Episcopus ordinaria auctoritate approbare valeat trans-
lationem in vernaculam linguam Officii parvi B. M. Virginis,
quod legitur in Breviario Eomano ?

II. Utrum idem Officium, ita translatum et approbatum, in
luce edi et adhiberi queat a fidelibus, intra fines dioeceseos
Buscoducensis degentibus, et praesertim a Congregationibus
religiosis utriusque sexus ?

Et Sacra eodem Congregatio, exquisite voto Commissionis
Liturgicae, reque mature perpensa, rescribendum censuit :
Ad I. Affirmative.

Ad II. Affirmative, sed tantum pro recitatione privata.
Atque ita rescripsit. Die 24 Aprilis 1896.

C. CARD. ALOISI-MASELLA, S.E.C., Praefectus.
L. *S.

ALOISIUS TRIPEPI, S.E.C., Secretaries.

THE COMMEMORATION OF THE TITULAR OF A CHURCH
WHICH IS MERELY BLESSED IS TO BE MADE IN THE
SUFFRAGES; AND WHEN THE TITULAR IS THE HOLY
FAMILY THE COMMEMORATION OF THE B. V. MARY AND
ST. JOSEPH ARE TO BE OMITTED

ORD. MIN. S. FRANC. CAPPUCCINORUM. DUBIA QUOAD COMMEMORA-
TIONEM S. FAMILIAE IN SUFFRAGIIS SANCTORUM

Die 13 Novembris 1896.

Viglebani e fundamentis nuper erecta est Ecclesia in honorem
Sacrae Familiae lesu, Mariae, loseph, rite benedicta et Hospitio
Fratrum Minorum Cappuccinorum adnexa. Exortis nonnullis
dubiis quoad commemorationes communes seu suffragia sanc-
torum, R P. Franciscus Ma. a Bistagno, Ordinis Minorum

DOCUMENTS 561

Cappuccinorum et ipsius Ecclesiae atque Hospitii Superior, a
Sacra Bituum Congregatione eorumdem dubiorum solutionem
humillime flagitavit, nimirum :

I. Utrum in suffrages sanctorum agenda sit commemoratio
Sacrae Familiae titularis Ecclesiae tantum benedictae et non
consecratae ?

II. Et quatenus affirmative ad primum, sunt ne relinquendae
commemorationes de S. Maria et de S. loseph ?

III. Si negative ad secundum, commemoratio S. Familiae
debetne praecedere istis commemorationibus ?

Et Sacra eadem Eituum Congregatio, referente subscripto
Secretario, re accurate perpensa auditoque voto Commissionis
Liturgicae, rescribendum duxit :

Ad I. et II. Affirmative.

Ad III. Provisum in Praecedenti.

Atque ita rescripsit. Die 13 Novembris 1896.

C. CARD. ALOISI-MASELLA, S.RC., Praefectus.
L.*S.

D. PANICI, S.E.C., Secretariats.

WHEN THE VOTIVE OFFICE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEP-
TION OF THE B. V. MART ON SATURDAY IS FOLLOWED
BY A DOMINICAL OFFICE THE VESPERS ARE FROM THE
CAPITULUM OF THE SUNDAY

GENEVEN. DUBIUM QUOAD OCCURRENTIAM SECUNDARUM VESPER-
AHUM OFFICII VOTIVI B. M. V. IMMAC. CUM PRIMIS VESPERIS
DOMINICAE SEQUENTIS

Emus Diius loseph A. Broquet, Vicarius generalis Dioeceseos
Geneven, a Sacra Eituum Congregatione humillime postulavit
sequentis dubii solutionem, nimirum :

Utrum concurrentibus secundis Vesperis Officii votivi de
B. Maria V. Immaculata cum primis Vesperis Dominicae sequen-
tis, Vesperae fieri debeant a capitulo de Dominica, vel potius
recitandi sint psalmi de sabbato ?

Et Sacra eadem Congregatio, exquisito voto alterius ex
Apostolicarum Caeremoniarum Magistris, atque re perpensa,
rescribendum censuit :

Affirmative ad primam partem ; negative ad secundam.

Atque ita rescripsit. Die 3 Septembris 1895.

C. CARD. ALOISI-MASELLA, S.E.C., Praef.
L. & S.

A. TRIPEPI, Secretarius.

VOL. I. 2 N

562 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

THE "SEPULCHRE" ]N WHICH THE BLESSED SACHAMENT
REPOSES ON HOLY THURSDAY REPRESENTS BOTH THE
BURIAL OF CHRIST AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE MOST
HOLY SACRAMENT. STATUES, &c., SHOULD NOT BE
PLACED ON THE ALTAR OF REPOSE

ROMANA. DUBIA QUOAD ALTARE, QUOD COMHUNITER DIC1TUR
SEPULCRUM

Instantibus plerisque Eniis Episcopis variaruni regionum,
qui saci'os ritus et caeremonias iuxta ecclesiasticas praescrip-
tiones ac laudabiles consuetudines in suis dioecesibus observari
satagunt, quaestio super Altari quod communiter dicitur sepul-
crum, alias agitata, Sacrae Eituum Congregation! sub duplici
sequent! dubio reproposita fuit, nimirum :

I. Utrum in altari, in quo Feria V et VI Maioris Hebdo-
madae, publicae adorationi exponitur et asservatur Sanctissimum
Eucharistiae Sacramentum, repraesentetur sepultura Domini,
aut institutio eiusdem Augustissimi Sacramenti ?

II. Utrum liceat ad exornandum praedictum Altare adhibere
statuas aut picturas, nempe Beatissimae Virginis, S. loannis
Evangelistae, S. Mariae Magdalenae et militum custodum, aliaque
huiusmodi ?

Sacra porro Rituum Congregatio in ordinariis comitiis, sub-
signata die ad Vaticanum habitis, ad relationem infrascripti
Cardinalis, Sacrae eidem Congregationi Praefecti, exquisitis
trium Emorum Consultorum suffrages, scripto exaratis, attenta
quoque antiqua et praesenti Ecclesiae disciplina, omnibusque
maturo examine perpensis, rescribendum censuit :

Ad. I. Utrumque.

Ad II. Negative. Poterunt tamen Episcopi, ubi antiqua
consuetude vigeat, huiusmodi repraesentationes tolerare ; caveant
autem ne novae consuetudines hac in re introducantur. Atqu'e
ita rescripsit, contrariis quibuscumque decretis abrogatis. Die
15 Decembris 1896.

Facta postmodum de his Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Leoni
XII. per ipsum infrascriptum Cardinalem relatione, Sanctitas
Sua rescriptum Sacrae Congregationis ratum habuit, et confir-
mavit, iisdem die, mense et anno.

CAI. CARD. ALOISI-MASELLA, S.E.C., Praefectus.
L. * S.

D. PANICI, S.E.C., Secretarius.

DOCUMENTS 563

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INFANCY OF JESUS, WHERE
TITULAR OF A CHURCH IS TO BE CELEBRATED ON
DECEMBER 25, WITH THE OFFICE AND MASS OF THE
NATIVITY. MANNER OF COMMEMORATING THIS

TITULAR IN THE SUFFRAGES.

BELLEVILLEN. DUBIA QUOAD FESTUM, OFFICIUM ET MISSAM IN
ECCLESIA DICATA S. INFANTIAE IESU

In Dioecesi Bellevillensi extat Ecclesia parochialis, dicata
Sanctae Infantiae lesu, et Sacerdos eidem Ecclesiae adscriptus,
de consensu sui Rmi Episcopi a Sacra Eituum Congregatione
sequentium dubiorum resolutionem humillime postulavit :

I. Quando Festum Titularis Ecclesiae suae sit celebrandum ?

II. Quod officium cum Missa sit dicendum in hoc Festo ?

III. An et quomodo facienda sit commemoratio in fine
Laudum et Vesperarum inter commemorationes communes ?

Sacra porro Eituum Congregatio, ad relationem Secretarii,
exquisite voto Commissionis Liturgiae, omnibusque mature
perpensis, rescribendum censuit :

Ad I. Die 25 Decembris.

Ad II. Officium et Missa de Nativitate Domini.

Ad III. Quoad primam partem Affirmative. Quoad secun-
dam, ad Laudes dicatur : Gloria in excelsis Deo etc. nempe anti-
phona ad Benedictus, in Laudibus Officii de Nativitate Domini.
In Vesperis dicatur antiphona ad Magnificat in 2. Vesperis
eiusdem Nativitatis, omissis Hodie. Atque ita rescripsit die
18 Decembris 1896.

C. CARD. ALOISI-MASELLA, S.E.C., Praefectus.
L.*8

D. PANICI, Secretarius.

[ 564 ]

NOTICES OF BOOKS

THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. With Notes, Critical and
Explanatory. By the Eev. Joseph MacKory, D.D.,
Professor of Saored Scripture and Hebrew in May-
nooth College. Dublin : Browne and Nolan, Ltd.

IT may seem strange to some that a new commentary on the
Gospel of St. John should be called for now, when somewhat
more than eighteen hundred years have elapsed since the Gospel
itself was written. Besides, during those eighteen centuries the
task of explaining this Gospel has been undertaken by some of
the greatest of the fathers, as well as by many of the most
profound theologians and most learned biblical scholars the
world has ever seen. Exhaustive commentaries on it have been
written by St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, by St. Thomas of
Aquin and St. Bonaventure, by Maldonatus, a Lapide, and
Toletus, and in our own time by Patrizzi, Corluy, and Archbishop
M' Evilly. And these are but a very few of the great names
associated with works written on the Gospel of St. John. What
need, then, can there be for yet another commentary on this
Gospel ? Some unthinking people may, perhaps, reply, ' None
whatever,' and may feel inclined to speak of any fresh attempt to
throw light on the obscure passages of St. John somewhat after
the manner of the Caliph Omar, when questioned by Amrou, the
conqueror of Egypt, as to how the books in the famous Alexan-
drian library should be disposed of. ' If these writings of the
Greeks,' replied the unlettered fanatic, ' agree with the Book of
God, they are useless, and need not be preserved ; if they disagree,
they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed. ' By a similar,
though undoubtedly less arbitrary, process of reasoning, it might
be said that a new commentary on St. John, which agrees with
the works of the great men whose names have been mentioned,
is useless, and that one which disagrees with them is pernicious.
But this view of a new commentary on even the best-known por-
tions of Scripture is as shallow, as Omar's view of the Alexandrian
library was ignorant and unreasoning. For, although a treatise
on a particular subject may contain nothing that is not to be
found in similar treatises, still, provided the authoi be a thorough

NOTICES OF BOOKS 565

master of his subject, the treatise will assume in his hands a
form better suited to the wants of his time, or to the wants of
the class for whom the treatise was written, than that possessed
by earlier treatises. Many examples in support of this statement
will occur to everyone. A familiar one is the yearly, almost
daily, multiplication of school treatises ou the grammar of various
languages, as well as of annotated editions of the better-known
writings in the same languages. The chief merit claimed by the
compilers of such works is, that they are better suited for the
object for which they are intended than treatises or editions
already in existence.

This was one reason which influenced Dr. MacEory in pre-
paring his ' Critical and Explanatory Notes ' on the fourth Gospel.
The course of Sacred Scripture read in the College was lengthened,
the students were unable in the time at their disposal to read the
existing commentaries ; consequently, it became the duty of the
Professor to provide them with a commentary suited to their
circumstances. He tells us this in his preface : —

' Some years ago their Lordships, the Archbishops and Bishops
of Ireland, decided to lengthen considerably the course of Sacred
Scripture read in this College. . . . This change, while
it has the advantage of familiarizing our students with a larger
portion of the Sacred Text, obviously renders it impossible that
so much time as formerly should be devoted to the study of any
one portion of it. ... I was not long, therefore, in charge
of the class of Sacred Scripture when I became convinced that
it would be useful, if not necessary, to provide the students with
a compendious exposition of the portions of Scripture that they
are expected to study.'

The present commentary on the Gospel of St. John is the
first instalment of the projected work, and its merits as an
exposition of this sublime Gospel, apart altogether from the object
for which it was written, far more than justify its appearance, and
afford splendid promise that when the author has finished the
task he has undertaken, he will have permanently enriched biblical
literature, and conferred an inestimable boon, not only on the
students of Maynooth, but on all students of the New Testament
who understand the English language.

We have no intention of apologizing for the publication of this
volume — it is its own best apology — but we desire to mention
another reason which justified Professor MacEory in publishing

566 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

it, and which will equally justify his successor one hundred or
five hundred years hence in following his example. There are a
great many exegetical difficulties in the fourth Gospel. These
have been variously explained by different commentators, and for
some unaccountable reason no one who makes anything like a
profound study of this Gospel or of any other book of Sacred
Scripture, can accept throughout the solutions of the difficulties
given by even the ablest commentator. The earnest student of
Scripture is by a necessity of his nature, or rather, of his individual
characteristics, eclectic. He cannot adopt the views of anyone
commentator, but must laboriously weigh the opinions of the
authors he has at hand, reject those which do not recommend
themselves to his reason, adopt that one which does, or, abandon-
ing all the opinions he has read, construct one for himself : or
if this be impossible, give up the difficulty in despair, and admit
a series of more or less probable opinions. This is particularly
true of a professor, who must be prepared to recommend and
defend some solution of every difficulty, some interpretation of
every obscure passage that occurs in the text which it is his duty
to explain. And when a professor has finally convinced himself
of the truth or greater probability of certain definite solutions of
all the difficulties contained in a book of Scripture like the Gospel
of St. John, he is naturally desirous to crystallize his opinions
by committing them to type, thereby saving himself the
trouble of again consulting authorities, or looking up forgotten
notes.

That the author of this work has definite and decided views
regarding the solution of the difficulties with which the fourth
GospeJ abounds is evident from even a casual glance through
these pages. And that his views have not been formed without
exhaustive reading, the numerous though unobtrusive references
to the fathers, the great theologians, and the classical commenta-
tors, abundantly prove ; while the exercise of an independent, and
generally sound, judgment is testified by the fact that the author
always supports his interpretation by intrinsic rather than by
extrinsic arguments. No matter how great may be the authority
of those who hold a certain interpretation, he rejects that inter-
pretation, unless the intrinsic evidence in its favour outweighs, or,
at least, equals that in favour of any other opinion.

A striking instance of our author's independence of judgment
is given in the beginning of the first chapter. Everyone is

NOTICES OF BOOKS 567

acquainted with the usual division and punctuation of vv. 3 and 4
of the first chapter :—

' 3. Omnia per ipsum facia sunt ;

et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est :
4. In ipso vita erat et vita erat lux hominum.'

But this familiar and now universally-received punctuation,
our author tells us, is all wrong, and must, therefore, be aban-
doned, and in its place we must adopt the following : — •

' 3. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt :
et sine ipso factum est nihil.
Quod factum est, (4) in ipso vita erat ;
et vita erat lux hominum.'

The English rendering, according to this punctuation, would
be : ' All things were made by Him, and without Him was made
nothing. In that which was made [literally ; What was made, in
it] was life, and the life was the light of men.' Is it possible,
then, that the world has waited for eighteen centuries to learn
from Professor MacBory the true meaning of the very first lines
of the best-known portion of Holy Writ ? We will allow
himself to answer this question : —

' We think it extremely probable, then, that the words : Quod
factum est (that was made, or, as we shall render in our interpre-
tation ; what ivas made), standing at present in the end of verse 3,
are to be connected with verse 4. Some may be inclined to blame
us for departing from what is at present the received connection
of the words in such a well-known passage as this. Let us,
therefore, sum up briefly the evidence that has forced us, we may
say reluctantly, to connect the words with verse 4.

' 1. Though Maldonatus tries to throw doubt upon the fact,
this is the connection adopted by practically all, if not all, the
fathers and other writers of the first three centuries, and by the
majority of writers afterwards down to the sixteenth century.

'2. It is supported by the oldest MSS. of the Vulgate, and,
what is more remarkable, by some of the oldest Greek MSS.,
notwithstanding the fact that St. Chrysostom was against it.

' 3. The parallelism in the verse is better brought out : All
things were made by Him, and without Him ivas made nothing.

' 4. If Quod factum est were intended to be connected with
the preceding, the clause would be certainly unnecessary, and
apparently useless, because it is plain without it that the
Evangelist is speaking of what was made, and not including any
uncreated Being, like the Father or the Holy Ghost.'

5C8 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

Though we hold very strongly against the author that the
now recognised punctuation is correct, we cannot deny him the
merit of courage and independence of judgment in reviving an old
opinion against the united forces of modern criticism, and we must
congratulate him on the ability he displays in maintaining his view.

Every difficult passage in the Gospel receives from the author
full and careful treatment. No opinion of any weight seems to
hive been left unnoticed. Usually he marshals under each
difficult passage the more probable interpretations, giving the
names of the prominent interpreters who have held each, as well
as the internal arguments in their favour ; and in no single
instance, as far as we have been able to discover, does he leave
the 'reader in doubt as to the interpretation which he himself
favours. We should feel inclined to challenge some of his inter-
pretations, notwithstanding the great learning and ability with
which they are supported, but our own interpretations of the
same passages are certainly no better supported by authority
than his ; while the force of the internal arguments in favour of
our interpretations may derive something from our own subjec-
tivity. Hence we will abstain from any detailed criticism of his
conclusions, though we reserve to ourselves the right to animad-
vert briefly on the solution he has adopted of one difficulty. In
reconciling the apparent discrepancy between the fourth Gospel
and the synoptic Gospels regarding the day of the month Nisan
on which our Lord was crucified, he adopts the time-honoured
but inconvenient view that, while the synoptic Gospels measure
the day by the Jewish method, from sunset to sunset, St. John
measures it according to the Greek method, from midnight to
midnight. This solution of the difficulty we would adopt in
defect of a better ; but a better, we think, exists, and is actually
discussed by our author, who, however, rejects it, on what we
cannot but consider as very inadequate grounds. We let
himself explain this opinion : —

'(4) Others, as Petav., Maid., Kuin., Coleridge, Comely, &c.,
hold that our Lord and the Apostles eat the Paschal Supper on
the night of the 14th of Nisan, while the Jews that year eat it on
the night of the 15th. Maldonatus holds that it was customary
with the Jews from the time of the Babylonian captivity, when-
ever the first day of the Pasch fell on a Friday, to transfer it to
Saturday, in order that two solemn feasts might not occur on
successive days. According to this view, our Lord corresponded
with the requirements of the Jewish Law ; the Jews, on the other

NOTICES OF BOOKS 569

hand, followed the custom which had been introduced after the
Babylonian captivity. In this view, too, it is easy to reconcile
St. John's statement with those of the other Evangelists. He
speaks of the night of the Last Supper, in reference to the feast
as celebrated that year by the Judeans, and so places it before the
feast ; they, on the other hand, speak of it in reference to the
strict Law, and place it on the first day of Azymes, or rather, on
the night following the first day of Azymes.

' The great names of many who have held this opinion lend to
it considerable probability, and if the custom which is alleged in
its favour were proved to have existed in the time of Christ, we
would at once adopt it. But it is seriously disputed whether
such a custom did exist at that time. It is true, indeed, that
among the modern Jews, when the Paschal feast should begin on
Friday, they always defer it to the Sabbath ; and the Talmud is
referred to by Cornely (vol. iii., § 73, 1) as saying that the same
has been the Jewish practice ever since the Babylonian captivity.
Others, however, contend that the custom is not as old as the
time of Christ, and that in His time the custom of the Pasch was
kept on a Friday whenever it fell on that day. Aben-Ezra (on
Levit. xxiii. 4) says : — " Tana ex Mischna quam ex Talmude pro-
batur Pascha in secundam, quartam, et sextam feriam quandoque
incidisse." Since, then, the hypothesis on which this opinion
rests seems doubtful, the opinion itself appears to us less satis-
factory than that which follows.'

From this quotation it appears — (a) That this opinion is sup-
ported by the greatest authorities among biblical scholars, past
and present ; (b) that the Talmud states that the custom of
transferring the Paschal festival to Saturday as often as it fell
on Friday existed from the time of the Babylonian captivity ;
(c) that the Jews of the present day observe this custom.
And yet the opinion is rejected by our author, as well as by
Corluy and other writers of name, simply because it cannot be
clearly proved that the custom did, in fact, exist in the time of
Christ. We say that this is the only reason ; for we regard the
words of Aben-Ezra, quoted by the author, if they possess any
meaning at all, as making for rather than against the opinion in
support of which they are brought forward. Why did Aben-Ezra
consider it necessary to say that the Pasch now and then (quan-
doque) fell on Friday, unless in the hypothesis that it did not fall
on Friday every time that the 15th of Nisan fell on that day ?
For the feast, being regulated by the moon, had just as good a
chance of falling on Friday as on any other day of the week.
What the ancient Eabbi's reference to feria 2da et 4tn means, we
do not know, and, perhaps, neither does anyone else.

570 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

The form of the ' Notes ' and their relation to the Text in the
printed page are both highly satisfactory. The Text of the
Vulgate and that of the Ehemish version are given at the top of
the page in parallel columns ; the ' Notes ' also pi-inted in double
column fill the remainder of the page. The proportion of Text to
commentary varies, of course, with the difficulties contained in the
Text. And here we may point out what we consider a great
advantage in this work, namely, the brevity or complete absence
of commentary on passages which present no difficulty. On
passages like the story of the man born blind, which might
be transferred without changing a word into a children's
Bible History, it is irritating to meet with a long and prosy
commentary. Another point we note with pleasure, wherever
the Sacred Text is quoted in the notes it is always printed
in clarendon. The author has adopted a style well suited
to a commentary, such as his. It is at once clear, terse,
and simple. \Ve notice a few inconsistencies in the use of
terms, and in the form of type in which certain peculiar words
are printed. This small defect is, doubtless, owing to hurry in
revising the proof sheets.

We will conclude this long notice by expressing a hope that
the reception which this volume will receive from Catholic
colleges, Catholic students, and Catholic priests, will encourage
the author to hurry forward the publication of similar volumes on
the other portions of the New Testament.

D. O'L.

PASTOKAL THEOLOGY. By William Stang, D.D., Vice-
Rector of the American College, Louvain, and Professor
of Pastoral Theology at the same ; late Rector of
SS. Peter and Paul's Cathedral, Providence, Rhode
Island. Brussels : Societe Beige de Libraire ; Dublin .
M. H. Gill and Son ; London : Burns and Gates, Ltd. ;
New York : Benziger Brothers.

BEFORE we could find space for a notice of this valuable contri-
bution to ecclesiastical literature, the first edition had been com-
pletely exhausted, and a new edition issued, by those energetic
publishers of Catholic books, Benziger Brothers. The work was
primarily intended for the students of the American College,
Louvain, in which the author discharges the duties of Vice- Presi-
dent and Professor of Pastoral Theology. Written by an

NOTICES OF BOOKS 571

American priest, and designed to help to train priests for the
American mission, the work is naturally and necessarily adapted
to the circumstances of the Church in America, But this, so far
from diminishing the value of the book for English-speaking
priests, elsewhere than in America, really enhances it. For in
methods of administration, in the matter of Catholic schools,
ecclesiastical buildings, societies, and such like, a good deal is to
be learned from our progressive brethren in the United States.
The book is intended for a class-book, and, as such, is, in the
mind of the author, only a collection of materials which the
living voice of the Professor must expand. To us, however, it
seems that any intelligent reader, may master the details of the
book without the aid of a professor, and may thus acquire in the
retirement of his own study the vast stores of practical wisdom
which Dr. Stang has succeeded in compressing into his work.
For the author is not a mere theorist, not a mere man of books ;
almost every page reveals the man of experience in every detail
of a missionary priest's work. This experience being engrafted
on a mind of broad and warm sympathies towards every class,
lends a special charm to the book, and a special weight to the
author's views. We should like 'to see a copy of this book — for
it is the only one of the kind originally written in English, or
written with a view to the peculiar circumstances of missionary
countries — in the hands of every theological student and of every
young priest. The student will learn from it how to reduce to
practice the principles taught him in the schools ; he will learn
how to conduct himself as a priest, as a pastor of souls, as an
administrator of ecclesiastical property, and as a man of the
world, in so far as his duties compel him from time to time
to assume this character. The young priest should have it
at hand, and should read it frequently, that he may be able to
apply, when the occasion arises, the wise practical directions
and suggestions with which the work is crammed. To older
priests we would also recommend it, if for no other purpose than
that they might compare their practice with that recommended
by the author, or, that they might in these pages gaze on what they
ought to be, and compare the picture with what they really are.

We do not know whether the circumstances of this country
are so different from those which prevail in the United States,
that the following advice, tendered to the American rector and
his assistant, might not be adopted by our parish priest and his

572 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

curate. Many, at any rate, will consider the advice a good
one : —

' The good assistant will entertain for his rector the true
affection as for an elder brother, while the latter will treat him
with every possible condescension and confidence. There must
be no secrets between them about the workings of the mission.
The rector is only primus inter pares : he cannot regard his
assistant as a slave who has to do the hardest and most disagree-
able work, hear all the confessions, attend every sick call. The
rector should never forget that his assistant is his equal as a
priest ; he should take an equal share of the pastoral work, and
simply do himself what he expects the other to do. He who gets
a curate for the sole reason to rid himself of pastoral work is a
hireling, and unworthy of his calling. The rector is responsible
to the bishop for the priestly conduct of his assistant. He should
not report him, however, for every little fault. He should try to
advise and correct him in a kind and brotherly way.'

The new edition professes to be ' revised and enlarged.' The
enlarging consists in the addition of a useful chapter on Church
music ; the revision in the correction of trifling inaccuracies.
There is a curious mistake, however, which has not been
corrected in the new edition. The Instructio Clementina is in
both editions attributed to Clement VIII., whereas it was
issued by Clement XI., exactly a century after the death of
Clement VIII. The Instruction was issued on January 21, 1705,
and Clement VIII. died in 1605. The Instruction, besides, bears
internal evidence of being much later than the time of
Clement VIII., for a decree is cited in the body of it which
was issued as late as 1658. We have noticed the same mistake
in a document but recently come from a Eoman congregation.

D. O'L.

DOCTORIS ECSTATIC: D. DIONYSII CARTUSIANI OPERA OMNIA.
In unum corpus digesta cura et labore Monachorum
Sacri Ordinis Cartusiensis. Favente Pont. Max.
Leone XIII. Tomus I. In Genesim et Exodiuna
(i.-xix.). Monstrolii : Typus Cartusiae Sancta Mariae
de Pratis. 1896.

THIS is the first volume of the works of the learned and saintly
Dionysius the Carthusian, who lived from 1402 till 1471. The
first printed edition of his works was issued in Cologne between
1530 and 1559, in twenty-two folio volumes, and this seems to

NOTICES OF BOOKS 573

have been the only complete edition yet printed. The editors,
monks of the Order on which the fame of the author sheds such
lustre, intend now to publish a new and complete edition,
founded on the Cologne edition, but carefully revised and
collated with the best MSS. that can be found. The task is a
gigantic one ; for it is considered there will be fully forty quarto
volumes, each containing about eight hundred pages. The
edition is dedicated to his Holiness Leo XIII., from whom the
editors have received a most kind and encouraging letter, which
they print at the beginning of this volume. An Elenchus, or list
of the author's works, is printed among the introductory matter,
and from it we learn that he wrote as many as one hundred and
eighty-five different treatises or works. These are on every
subject of interest to a churchman, but are chiefly on Sacred
Scripture, theology, and philosophy. Of the forty volumes of tjie
new edition, fifteen will be occupied with the exegetical works on
the Old and New Testaments, and thirteen with his theological
and philosophical works. The remaining volumes will be occupied
by short works on theological and philosophical questions, and
by treatises on asceticism, &c. The first voluma contains an
exposition of Genesis, and of the first nineteen chapters of
Exodus. It displays the great powers of mind possessed by the
author, and his wonderful acquaintance with the writings of the
fathers, especially with those of SS. Jerome and Augustine. We
find no mention of evolution, of course, but we find much that is
edifying and instructive, conveyed in easy, graceful Latin. The
subscription price is 8 francs a volume.

INSTITUTIONES THEOLOGICAE DE SACEAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
Auctore Joanne Bapt. Sasse, S.J. Volumen Primum.
De Sacramentis in Genere, de Baptismo, de Confirma-
tione, de SS. Eucharistia. Friburgi : Brisgoviae, Sum-
tibus. Herder.

THEOLOGIA FUNDAMENTALS. Auctore Ignatio Ottiger, S.J.
Tomus I. De Kevelatione Supernatural!. Herder.

LlBRI LlTURG-ICI BlBLIOTHECAE APOSTOLICAE VATICANAE

MANU SCRIPTI. Digessit et Kecensuit Hugo Ehrens-

berger. Herder.

FATHER SASSE' s work on the Sacraments is to be completed in
two volumes, and will prove a valuable addition to the literature
of the subject. The author has spent more than twenty years

574 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

in teaching theology, and is, consequently, thoroughly familiar
with every controversy, and phase of controversy, that has been
waged round the doctrines and practices of the Church. Begin-
ning with the Sacraments, the author promises us similar treatises
on other dogmatic questions. He prefers to make the treatises
independent of one another, and to publish them separately, so
that they may have an individual value, even though the entire
programme which he has sketched for himself should never be
earned out. The present volume makes us hope that the author
may be permitted to complete his self-imposed task. The work
is intended for students, though it is only the more gifted who
could profit by reading it as the first treatise on the questions
with which it deals. For, although it is not so recondite or dis-
cursive as Franzelin, nor so voluminous as Haine, on the Sacra-
ments in general, still it is too learned and too long to form a
suitable elementary text-book for the average student. But
students for whom the Mechlin treatises are too superficial and
Perrone too barren, may turn with pleasure and profit to Father
Sasse's pages, where they will find every doctrine fully explained
and abundantly established, and every objection triumphantly
routed.

The second volume mentioned above, and, like the preceding
one, from the pen of a learned member of the Society of Jesus, is
intended rather for professors than for students. Besides twenty-
four pages of introduction and index, it contains nine hundred
and twenty-eight pages of text, entirely devoted, as the title of
the book indicates, to the question of Eevelation. This, like
Father Sasse's volume, is but the first of a contemplated series,
and is to be followed immediately by two volumes on the Church,
Da, Ecclesia Christi. The scope of the entire work on Kevelation
and on the Church is stated by the author with equal brevity
and clearness : —

' Duae igitur praecipue quaestiones hujus nostrae disciplinae
argumentum efficiunt, utrum scilicet revelatio supernaturalis atque
divina reapse impertita sit, et ubi ea existat et inveniri possit.
Quae enim aliae quaestiones insuper in hac nostra disciplina trac-
tantur, omnes ad duas illas praecipuas pertinent, vel ut praeviae,
vel ut natura necessario consequentes. Atque ex dictis evidens
quoque est argumentum hujus disciplinae, partim situm scilicet
vero in revelationis theora, esse praecipue philosophicum, partim
historicum, in usum nimirum illius theoriae ad demonstrandam
revelationis Christianae in Ecclesia Eomano-Catholica existentiam.'

NOTICES OF BOOKS 575

Imbued with this profound but thoroughly clear and logical
view of his subject, Father Ottiger has given us as the first instal-
ment of his work — the more purely philosophical portion of it —
a volume so well ordered, that the most fastidious could not
suggest an improvement, so simple in language and so clear in
style that the meaning almost shines from the pages, and so full
withal that it contains everything of worth that is relevant to the
subject. We have said that the book is intended rather for
professors than for students ; but by students we mean only those
who are making their way for the first time along the foot of the
lofty heights of theology. Those already acquainted, even in a
very imperfect way, with the questions treated by our author,
will find no difficulty, but, on the contrary, much pleasure, in
reading his work. And undoubtedly in our time it is ' funda-
mental theology' such as this that we should study. Hardly
any thinking man is now a heretic. Hence it is waste of time
to fight with the shadows of the ghosts of forgotten heresies.
We should rather gird ourselves for the fight with infidelity, and
there is no better armoury whence to draw for both defence and
attack than the work now under consideration.

The recension of the manuscript liturgical books contained in
the Vatican library will prove very valuable to scholars and
antiquarians ; for the general reader it possesses no interest.

SHOBT LIVES OF THE SAINTS FOE EVERY DAY IN THE
YEAR. By the Rev. Henry Gibson. Volume I.,
January-April. Volume II., May-August. London
and Leamington : Art and Book Company.

THESE ' Lives ' may suit certain tastes, and may supply a want,
though of this latter we are doubtful. As history they are unre-
liable, and the author tells us that he has purposely refrained
from introducing moral reflections or pious exhortations. Unne-
cessary dates and names of places, he tells us, have also been
excluded. He should have entirely refrained, we think, from all
reference to questions involving a knowledge of chronology,
geography, or proper names. He releases St. Patrick from
captivity after six months, although the saint himself assures us
he remained a captive for six years ; and he has him consecrated
bishop before coming to Eome to receive the Pope's blessing on
his mission, though all the ancient Lives agree in stating that he
was not consecrated until after he had left Eome. He makes

576 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD

St. Columba see the light in the ' County of Tyrconnell,' and
Julian the Apostate to succeed Constantine. He gives two lives
of St. Catharine of Siena, one on April 30, the other on May 5,
the feast of St. Pius V. In the former, St. Catherine dies on
April 29, in the latter on April 27. We cannot say we are sorry
that the names of so few Irish saints appear. We wish them
better than to have their lives handled in the careless manner of
this author. Still, we doubt whether it was good taste on the
part of anyone publishing a presumedly popular work on the Lives
of the Saints for English-speaking Catholics to make no reference
to St. Brigid, the ' Mary of Ireland,' the patron revered by
Ireland's children. D. O'L.

THE BOMAN MISSAL FOE THE USE OF THE LAITY. Includ-
ing all the Feasts for England, Scotland, and Ireland,
the Society of Jesus, and the Order of St. Benedict.
London : Burns and Gates, Ltd. ; New YOIK, &c. :
Benziger Brothers.
THE BLESSED SACEAMENT OUE GOD. By a Child of

St. Teresa. London : Burns and Gates, Ltd.
THIS new edition of The Missal for the Laity is quite up to date,
as regards new feasts, as one would naturally infer from the
names of the eminent firms which join in publishing it, and the
style in which it is issued does credit to Catholic taste and enter-
prise. The type is a little too small, but larger type would
perhaps have made the volume too bulky.

The little brochure of fifty odd pages on the Blessed Sacrament
contains as many striking and edifying thoughts as many a
volume on the same subject of ten times its bulk. Its object, as
the title implies, is to make us realize that the Blessed Sacrament
is indeed our God, and its words are the outpourings of the heart
of one whose mind is permeated with the reality of this great
truth.

We have also received from Messrs. Burns and Oates, Ltd.,
copies of new editions of The Explanatory Catechism of Christian
Doctrine, and of TJie Children's Bible History.

BX 801 .168 1897 SMC
The Irish ecclesiastical
record 47085658

1897
v. 1

Does Not Circulate